On September 20th, my mom (Mary Pini) and I were standing in Gannondale’s Triangle Park during the Block Party when I looked up to see a giant Pepsi Can floating in the sky - a hot air balloon! We both knew what to do - get the camera and run! The chase was on - on the ground as well as in the sky.
We ran east on Cornell, turned north on Jackson, ran around University City High School to Shaftsbury and continued west to North & South as we watched the balloons float in the sky. They led us to the landing spot (marked by a giant white X on the ground) in a tiny clearing just north of the B'Nai Amoona Cemetery (only four blocks from Triangle Park!)
The Macy's balloon was the "rabbit" this year (due to problems with the Energizer Bunny balloon) and was chased by all the other balloons. The Fontbonne University balloon team won the race by dropping its "bomb" (a beanbag with a streamer attached to it) closest to the X-marked spot and landing nearest to the center of the X.
Question: I thought the winner was the balloon that lands closest to the "rabbit" balloon. Is using a beanbag "bomb" and landing near a X-marked spot a more common way of deciding who wins a hot air balloon race?
We watched the Citi balloon drop its "bomb" and land second. More balloons followed closely behind. At one point, we saw four balloons on the ground in the clearing at the same time. How they could all fit in this spot was amazing! Later I heard the Pepsi balloon came in third place, but I don't know where it landed.
This was not the Pini family's first balloon chase. We have chased balloons on Great Forest Park Balloon Race day many times in the past. When I was in high school, we lived in the University City Loop area and balloons landed on building rooftops, parking lots, and just about anywhere they could find a spot. Another year mom and I chased the balloons by car to the Westport area. The Wherenberg Theatre Popcorn balloon just missed landing on my car by a few feet - I almost had the biggest bag of popcorn ever on top of my car. Hey, if the popcorn had been real I just might have let it happen!
We look forward to many more balloon races in the future - it's an experience you never forget. But maybe one day it will be me floating above the treetops watching others running after my balloon.
