The evening before the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, there is the spectacular and much photographed Balloon Glow. The Balloon Race has been held in Forest Park for 37 years, but never has one of the balloons been blown to a mysterious island (they have been blown to another state, however).

I arrived early (and that’s good as traffic was crazy) and spent some time photographing the first balloon to be inflated before I wandered off to look at the crowd. I was intrigued by Jeannie’s parasol, so I introduced myself to her and her friend Beth and got permission to take their photo. Then I wandered some more, before the glowing started.

The event takes place on Forest Park’s Central Field (where Death stalked the Athletes last February), a great, flat spot just west of the Steinberg Rink. The darker it got, the more spectacular the photos looked. Here they are.