About Fifty Balloon Pilots Will Chase a Hare Across St Louis in the Fifty Fourth Great Forest Park Balloon Race
The free event opens with a Friday night balloon glow, and Stifel joins as presenting sponsor and flies the race's lead Hare balloon.
The Great Forest Park Balloon Race returns to St Louis, Missouri, on 18 and 19 September 2026 for its 54th year, with about 50 hot air balloon pilots expected at Emerson Central Fields in Forest Park. Admission is free, and financial services firm Stifel is the new presenting sponsor and flies the race's Hare balloon.
The race on Saturday 19 September follows the traditional hare and hound format. The Stifel Hare launches at 4:30pm and lays out a ground target marked with an X, and the chasing Hound balloons take off at 4:45pm, trying to drop markers as close to that target as possible.
Because hot air balloons cannot be steered horizontally, pilots must read wind currents at different altitudes, a task made harder because the race is one of the rare major balloon events staged inside a large city, Hoodline reported, citing the race website.
The weekend opens on Friday with the Balloon Glow from 6:45pm to 8:45pm, weather permitting, followed by the US Army Golden Knights parachute team at 9pm and a fireworks finale at 9:15pm. The event began in 1973, when seven balloons flew over Cricket Field in front of about 20 people.
The race was added to the Library of Congress collection as a Local Legacy in 2000. In 2020, when public gatherings were barred, organisers instead sent more than 50 balloons on surprise flyovers across the region to honour frontline workers.