Soulard Oktoberfest

The Soulard Octoberfest is an annual event across the street from the Soulard Farmer's Market in St. Louis, MO. There's a beer tent with Polka Music, carnival rides, people walking around with big plastic steins of beer with time for a kiss in between sips.

St. Louis Gateway Arch

If you read my blog, you've probably come to the conclusion that St. Louis is one of my favorite cities. It has a lot of character, architecture and interesting neighborhoods. I'm also in love with the Gateway Arch. 

The tallest man-made monument in the United States towers at 630 feet. It's a simple but elegant shape (a weighted catenary curve) covered in stainless steel that constantly changes as you move around it. I never get tired of looking at and photographing it. It's just such a massive and unusual structure. I enjoy getting up close and using a wide angle lens to distort and create exaggerated shapes such as this one. The Gateway Arch is truly one of our greatest national monuments.

Soulard Farmer's Market - St. Louis, MO

While spending time in St. Louis over the Easter weekend, I visited the historic Soulard Farmer's Market just south of downtown. There's been a continuous market at this location since 1779, one of the oldest in the United States.   It has an indoor main hall with 4 open air wings filled with produce, meats, live animals, spices and various crafts.  The best way to browse the market is to drop by Julia's Market Cafe and pick up her Bloody Mary, voted the Best Bloody Mary in the 2012 River Front Times poll.  If you don't like a spicy, ask the happy drink mixers to hold the spicy sprinkle finisher. 

While hanging out in the main hall I was drawn to the bedazzeled hat of this gentleman on the left. His name is Professor Mitch Wadley and his friend is Keith Carroll both musicians who play outside the market. Professor Wadley told me that he played bass for George Clinton back in the day. They were more than happy to let me photograph them and then proceeded to ask me for some monetary help.  I didn't give them any money, but I did send them some prints.

Waiting for Lightning

While visiting, St. Louis I went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to see the Chinese Lantern Festival. The skies were a bit threatening but the rain was holding off as the sun was setting. Unfortunately, the cloudy skies ruined my plan to photograph the lantern displays at the perfect time where the lights are visible and there is still color in the sky. The alternative was to wait for the lightning to illuminate the sky. It's tricky and takes a lot of patience and a quick finger on the tricker.  This one is the best I managed. Not bad.

Musical Mondays in Tower Grove Park - St. Louis

The heat in St. Louis finally broke this past Monday.  As my friend Ann and I were making our way back to her place after dinner, we drove through one of the many parks in St. Louis and saw the sign for Music Mondays.   I just happened to have a couple of lawn chairs with me, so we stopped and enjoyed the beautiful evening and performance by the Compton Heights Concert Band.   Just after the sun sets and the sky turns cobalt blue is  my favorite time to make images.

St. Louis City Museum

The St. Louis City Museum is a crazy place housed in an old shoe factory and warehouse in the former garment district of St. Louis.   The vision of Bob Cassilly who purchase the building in '86 and and began working on a place for kids and adults to play and explore together. It's bills itself as an "eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel. With it's many floors that house tunnels, cage tunnels, memorabilia and architectural artifacts of now gone historic buildings of St. Louis. The highlight is the rooftop playground with a bus as if it's teetering over the edge, and big slide and ferris wheel. It's great fun and everywhere you turn there's a something to discover.

St. Louis is Beer and Baseball

St. Louis is one of those cities that people either love or hate.  To me it's a great city with plenty to offer even with its rough edges.   What city doesn't? Every year around the 4th of July, we try to make it down for a Cardinal's game on the way to visiting the parents in the Ozarks.

Having grown up in Missouri, I'm still a Cardinal's fan at heart. The new Busch Stadium is a beautiful baseball park. The open design allows for good sight lines, good air flow and a beautiful view of the St. Louis Arch if you sit on 3rd base side. It goes without saying a beer is almost required to beat the summer heat in St. Louis. It seems only appropriate to have a Bud. 

Unfortunately Anheiser Busch is no longer a locally owned brewery in St. Louis, but the beer is still brewed just a few miles away down I-55.  It's how things go in this age of globalization and corporate consolidation. Either way, Budweiser Beer is still a big part of St. Louis so I'll drink to that! Cheers!

EAT-RITE Diner - St. Louis, MO

I love diners and greasy spoons. The 24-hour EAT-RITE is my lunch spot while I am in St. Louis each Fall for daycare portraits at Nestle-Purina Child Development Center. It's just a few blocks away and the food is cheap American artery-clogging goodness. The EAT-RITE sits on an island of concrete surround by industrial ugliness in the shadow of the Gateway Arch. It's one of the oldest and last diners of it's kind in St. Louis. It was a doughnut shop before it turned into the EAT-RITE. It's a counter service only place with friendly staff and an eclectic mix of patrons. This particular day, I had my camera with me and asked if I could take some photos. The staff was a little hesitant at first but quickly warmed up and started posing. The next day I brought some prints in for them and they were thrilled...and so was I. It's fun to be able to give back when people aren't expecting it. I'm looking forward to my next visit and the BLT with fries for under $5!