Sep. 20, 2008 - ManchesterMOExcitement

Thursday  brought a lovely evening and we were out on our deck, waving goodbye to my daughter. All of a sudden we heard a big WHOOSH sound. I looked to the sky and behind a bunch of trees, you could see a low flying hot air balloon. Way too low! I quickly ran to get my camera to film the excitement.

The balloon proceeded to float across the roof tops, just barely missing them and then down it went! It wasn't the best of spots to land, I thought, but it had.

It had landed in the cul-de-sac of the Pheasant Woods subdivision just behind us. My daughter stayed for abit and then we two, jumped into her car to go see what had happened.

The balloon was landed, barely missing the house tops, but grazing the trees that lined the street. I spoke to the pilot, Kevin Knapp; he said he hadn't realized it was going to be that tight of a landing. Kevin Knapp was last years winner of the Great Forest Park Hot Air Balloon Race. The balloon maker is Lindstrand. the Volume is: 105K cubic feet.  I asked what he charged to take people up and he responded he just hires out to Mayflower and does it for them. If you're here in the St. Louis area though you can call Steve Mroz of Balloons Over St. Louis. In the meantime you can check out the movie by clicking HERE 

Two Manchester Police cars came by to check things out, but everything was fine. The neighbors enjoyed watching the process of deflating the balloon too. Some of the kids were even helping!

Friday evening, at Forest Park, they had the 36th annual Balloon Glow. Saturday morning was a great time to have the Race.