Great Forest Park Balloon Race

The Great Forest Park Balloon Race is an annual hot air balloon festival held in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri. With more than 70 entrants and 130,000 spectators, it is the most well-attended single-day hot air balloon race in the United States.
The first race was launched by Nikki Caplan and John O'Toole in December 1973 at a gathering of six balloons and twenty spectators. In 1977, organization of the race passed from Caplan and O'Toole to a group of four novice balloonists who continue to coordinate the event today. These men are John Marlow, John Schaumburg, Ted Staley, and Dan Schettler, who formed a ballooning group known as the Mississippi River Balloon Transit Company. This company now is the host of the largest and most well attended balloon race. On May 23, 2000, the race was honored by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress as a local legacy after a nomination by then-Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives Dick Gephardt. So now, the Great Forest Park Balloon Race is forever documented through photographs, advertisements, media, and pilot rewards.

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