St. Louis Fair

Today we braved the city traffic and downtown parking scene to attend the St. Louis 4th of July Fair for the air show, B-52's (the band), and fireworks.  Those of you from Alaska know that Independence Day fireworks up north are a little underwhelming since the sun doesn't really go down at this time of year.  Therefore I was excited about seeing an actual night-time display.

We arrived at around 4 pm, an hour before the airshow, though the fair had been going on since the morning.  We were lucky enough to nab a parking spot in a lot on the fringes of downtown since the Cardinals game had just finished (7-1 win!).  There were at least a thousand people already settled on the hill before the arch and we joined the crowd so that we still had a good view but were far enough away from the stage to avoid deafness.  It was a very docile and pleasant crowd.  We pitched our camp chairs somewhere in the middle and listened to Spontaneous Nugent while we waited for the air show to start.

To kick things off, paratroopers jumped out of a C-130 Hercules and landed neatly under the Gateway Arch.  The rest of the show was equally impressive, though it was too bad the Harrier Jet was a no-show due to mechanical problems.  There was a short interruption by a heavy downpour of rain, but it wasn't enough to chase the spectators away.

The B-52's were pretty funny and put on a good show.  At the end of their performance Hans and I were worried that they weren't going to play our favorite song but they finished with an enthusiastic Rock Lobster.

As the sun set a last orange gleam of light illuminated the arch.

And, of course, the fireworks were fantastic.