Saturday, September 8, 2012

Disappointment City, Population: Chicago

I have returned early from a cancelled Flugtag Festival.

For those of you who are unaware the Flugtag Festival is an event sponsored by RedBull where they launch man powered size and weight limited flying contraptions from a tall ramp over water. The first one I attended was in Austin in 2001 or 2002 I'm not really sure which year but it was amazing. The event this year in Chicago was cancelled due to "unsafe marine conditions". Too bad too because the day is sunny and perfect with temps in the mid 70s.

The saddest part of the cancellation is that they were destroying the flugtags. Dozens of people were standing around watching as they crashed through each paper mache-plywood-pvc pipe structure with a backhoe. Tears streaming down little children's faces and the stink of discouragement  hung heavy in the air as we all watched them demolish a bat being ridden by Harry Carey. It was a cheerless display to say the least but I did manage to get a few shots of the hot air balloon flugtag.




The second photo is the extermination site and the third photo is our sad faces at the news. Peter even dressed up for the occasion.

No comments:

Post a Comment