Burnin' Love

St. Louis is celebrating it's 250th birthday. The events will continue all year but the festivities kicked off this month because in February of 1764 a 14-year old Auguste Chouteau, at the behest of the Laclede, Maxent & Company, planted his feet on the ground that has become St. Louis. 

To kick things off, Art Hill in Forrest Park hosted Burnin' Love. The event had a 20-foot tall burnin' heart, an Elvis impersonator who sang the eponymous song, young lovers getting engaged, local ragtime favorite Pokey LaFarge and fireworks. As you might expect the outdoor event was supposed to happen on Valentine's Day, last Friday. As you might also expect, the weather was horrid on a Friday in February so the event was postponed four days. Luckily, the weather was quite warm on the rescheduled day so all of the snow and ice that had threatened the festivities the first time around had melted. That is to say, Art Hill was a mud pit.

I had foreseen this mudscape so had asked Katie to put snow boots in the car despite the balmy weather. For some reason, however, I lacked the sense to put the boots on when we got there. So about 10 minutes into the show my shoes were soaked through and my toes were freezing. We lasted a couple of hours, because we wanted to hear Pokey LaFarge (who is excellent live btw) but I wasn't stout enough to pull through to the fireworks. 

But let me reiterate: Who plans a large outdoor event in February? Surely there would have been better attendance, and more beer sold, if they had postponed it a couple of months. I realize the organizers were scheduling for a historically significant month but a semiquincentennial event is a rare thing. I don't think anyone would have minded if this had been held in April.