I was off once again on the last weekend in June this year, and some friends were going to be in the Balloon Brigade at the St Louis Pridefest, so I drove down Sunday morning to shoot the parade and visit with some friends and models as well. This year was alot cooler than most of the past parades I can remember, and there were more colorful floats this time as well. This year`s parade lasted almost two and a half hours and I saw the St Louis Police Chief walk the route twice. I kept looking for the Balloon Brigade, but this year it was farther back in the route, probably due to its popularity, and one of my friends who was in it once again this year, told me that they had added a few lines of people, including some women in it this year…guess they won`t be known as the Balloon Boys any longer.

I arrived there after parking two blocks away, with minutes to spare and found an empty spot at 11th and Market…..

I hadn`t been there more than five or ten minutes when my good friend Chris Barber showed up, looking very good and Huck Finnish I might add…jeans rolled up to high water looks….he said it was the new style of wearing jeans these days…I`ll just have to take his word for it. He wasn`t able to stick around, had to go down toward Union Station and meet up with some others, they planned to watch the parade from that area, which is near the end of the route, and then he had to go to a fashion modeling gig rehearsal as well. Since I had a good shady spot and good vantage point with the Old Courthouse and Arch in the backdrop, I decided to stay and shoot from there. I let some other friends and a model know where I was at  so they could easily find me, or so I thought. I struck up a conversation with a couple next to me, she was from the New Orleans area and he was from the local area…while talking, we noticed a guy walking down the sidewalk behind us looking like a Ghostbuster….

I looked for Mike Lunter and Andy Struckhoff, and while I never did catch a glimpse of Mike, I saw Andy way up front in the parade line up, carrying a sign with a guy named Michael Rockafellow….

 

 

The next group in the parade route, was one of the best marching bands I have seen and heard in several years, made up of a diverse group of people, escorted by an equally supportive and diverse group of flag bearers…you should see them perform and hear how well they sound when they play….

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were several colorful floats after the band passed by, but the one that caught my eye was called Circus Kaput with some odd characters in it….

 

 

 

 

 

 

…followed by a beautiful horse drawn carriage…the horse was big and beautiful himself…

 

…and this sweet little girl was in a group following the carriage….

…followed by this guy wearing a cluster of grapes….

…followed by a nifty trapeze act of guys and gals both…

…and a motorcycle pulling a hearse trailer…

..and more waves of color kept coming down Market Street at us….

 

 

…and then finally came the long awaited Balloon Brigade down the street….

…as I saw them making their way closer, I couldn`t believe my eyes…there was a photographer friend of mine, Jeff Spicer, running alongside them trying to get out in front so he could shoot more photos of the brigade…Jeff is from the Paducah area and a gifted painter / artist friend of mine for years….

…after shooting the balloon brigade I walked down to Keiner Plaza to wait on a friend of mine, Zmari, to show up…he had looked for me along the parade route before and could not locate me, so I guess I wasn`t in as good of a spot as I thought. I spent the next couple of hours visiting with him and updating his new look for some modeling work, at various places in downtown St Louis. By the time I finished shooting him, it was hot and humid, and after walking all over the downtown area with Zmari, I was too tired to walk any further and headed home to rest up. My apologies if I missed out on visiting with anyone while down there.