STL Free For All

Yeah, we’re crazy enough to buy tickets for a day game in the middle of July! Here’s the trick: Buy waaaaay at the top, like six rows from the top. Those seats are in the shade, and they’re high enough to catch the breeze (if there is one). So we were hot, but not as hot as the folks in the sun. Most of them were gone by the time the game got really exciting in the last couple of innings.

What we didn’t know when we bought the tickets was that it was a Family Sunday, which means fans who buy in the cheap seats get a coupon for a free hot dog and soda. This saved us approximately $40 at the concession stand — a nice bonus for our $20-a-seat tickets (we bought late so all the sections with kids’ pricing were full already). If you’re interested in the next ones, they’re Aug. 3 vs. Philly, Aug. 24 vs. Atlanta and Sept. 7 vs. Florida. You’ll get the coupons when you buy the tickets.

The other nice bonus for braving the heat yesterday was the option after the game for kids to run the bases. From the size of the line, evidently every child who stayed to the end of the game also stayed to run the bases — by the time we found the line, it stretched halfway around the stadium on the lower level (for future reference, it starts over on the east side, where there’s a ramp descending to the “basement.”) Eventually the line got moving and we were funneled through various utilitarian hallways and out onto the field through a vehicle access doorway near the bullpen. We hustled down the first base line and entered the field at first base, where those 15 and under had to part from their parents — unless they were 2 years old and reluctant to run because, in the hurry to leave the house before the game, their mom had forgotten their shoes!! S. wasn’t particularly sad about the lack of footwear — he hates shoes anyway — but he didn’t want to run so they let me jog the bases with him. I’ve gotta tell you, it was a rush! The opportunity only comes after 1:15 games on a few dates; the two remaining for this season are Aug. 24 vs. Atlanta and Sept. 7 vs. Florida. (Yes, those are the same dates as the free hot dog/soda deal above.) In the photo, M. is racing toward the bases, and I’m on deck.

Finally, I learned only yesterday that there are half-price nights scattered throughout the schedule. The offer’s only good for the cheap seats, but hey, half price is half price! The only game remaining for this season is Sept. 5 vs. Florida, but keep it in mind for next year, because April and May have the bulk of the half-price nights.

For details on the giveaways and other promotions, including the freebies before the game (ice cream for two hours prior to every Sunday home game) or to buy tickets and get those free hotdogs, visit the Cardinals’ homepage.

Did you know that no matter how hot it seems, it has to be really, really blazing to actually fry an egg on the sidewalk?  We’ve been experimenting with eggs and frying pans and Plexiglas and aluminum foil this summer, and we’ve yet to successfully fry an egg on our sidewalk, sizzling-hot though it may seem.  We’ve been reading up on the Internet about techniques and tricks, but it seems to come down to this:  The temp needs to be above 95 degrees and the UV index needs to be very high … like today, when the temp will be in the mid-90s and the UV index will be 9.

Tomorrow, the quasi-official Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk Day, should also be prime egg-frying weather.  And for more similarly useless-but-fun data, check out the calendar on the HiCards homepage, where everything from Amelia Earhart to caviar gets its day in July.

To be more precise, this festival in Collinsville is a tribute to the world’s largest ketchup bottle, a landmark on the site where Brooks ketchup used to be made.  (The extra-tangy brand is still around, though it’s now bottled up in Canada.)  The 10-year-old festival is a testament to how much Americana can be squeezed out of an oddly shaped red tower: There’s hot dog eating contests for kids and adults, hula hoop challenges, clowns and magicians, dancers, karate demos, a car show and cruise, an Elvis impersonator, ketchup tastings (can you pick out the Brooks brand?), Little Miss Tomato and King Catsup crownings, a visit from the St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders … you get the idea.  Kitsch at every turn, but all in the name of good, old-fashioned fun.

The shindig happens Saturday and Sunday (July 12 and 13) at the VFW Post on Illinois Route 159 through Collinsville, about 20 minutes from downtown (for those of you who don’t venture over to the east side of the river very often).  A schedule is posted online; events run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.  Kids’ activities and vendor stalls will be up and running throughout.

Technically today’s featured activity isn’t free, but trust me, you can get cups and powdered mix for less than 5 bucks.  Along with ice from the freezer, a hand-painted sign on the flap from an old cardboard box, and that unused fold-up table from the attic, you’re good to go.

I did not expect to have much fun when M. wanted to set up a lemonade stand on a 90-plus-degree day.  The idea has been percolating in his little brain since he saw a stand on TV a few weeks ago, and I’d run out of excuses for putting it off.  I thought I was golden when yesterday started off rainy, but when the sun broke through the clouds, I agreed to the whole scheme and started lettering our sign so M. could paint it.  That paint was not yet dry when S. went off for a nap and M. and I hit the street corner (as we learned when one of our first customers leaned up against that still-wet sign!  Luckily it was a neighbor girl who accepted a turn behind the counter as restitution for her laundry bill).

To my utter surprise, the stand was lots of fun.  M. was delighted to call out and wave at passing cars, whether or not they stopped.  Everyone waved back, at least, which is fun for any kid.  He had wanted to give the lemonade away; I insisted on a sale. We settled for a very small fee (25 cents for a small cup, 50 for a large).  I stocked an empty lemonade mix container with quarters, not realizing that almost none of his customers would accept change back for their purchases.

We were lucky to have a primo location:  on the corner of two busy-but-not-dangerous streets where there probably had not been a stand for 15 years, and where a scraggy elm gave us enough shade to stay relatively comfortable during the heat of the day.  We sold out of lemonade after about two hours, just when the after-work traffic was starting to pick up, so perhaps next time we’ll go out later.  However, I enjoyed the entire two hours, both the commotion when we were busy and the lulls when we were not, during which M. and I had some great conversations about his “business” and about the people we’d met.

A few weeks ago I blogged about one freebie summer movie series, over at the Wehrenberg chain, and I’ve since discovered two more that bear mentioning:

One is at AMC Theatres in Chesterfield, Creve Coeur and Crestwood, where until Aug. 6 a buck buys admission to the 10 a.m. Wednesday Summer Movie Camp screenings (this week it’s Alvin and the Chipmunks on July 9; other movies are listed online at the chain’s homepage). Although the shows aren’t free, the profits from them go to charity. Single admission is available the day of the show, but groups need to call in advance (starting a week ahead) to reserve tickets.

The other is the Free Family Film Series from Regal Entertainment Group, with free movies both Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. The location is the St. Louis Mills Stadium 18; the movies start today (July 8 ) with Wallace and Grommit and run through Aug. 6 with Are We There Yet? Admission is first come, first served. For a complete schedule, visit the homepage.

If you’re disappointed that Fair St. Louis and the fireworks will be at two separate venues this year, take heart! Your options are all good.

Option 1: Stay at Fair St. Louis‘ new home due to the flooding Mississippi, the Soldiers Memorial Plaza at 14th and Market streets. We’ve watched the fireworks from a distance before (back when the Anheuser-Busch brewery let locals park on its main headquarters lot) and the displays were just as evocative and spectacular — and a little less frightening for kids who’re not into loud explosion noises. (The accompanying music can be heard at 102.5 KEZK.)

Option 2: Head to the Arch grounds anyway. The National Park Service will open the grounds to spectators (the usual checkpoints will apply) but there won’t be any vendors, music or other activities.

Option 3: Go somewhere else. There are excellent festivals throughout the region — KMOX radio has a comprehensive listing for both Missouri and Illinois metro communities at its homepage. I’d like to note especially that the band Joe Dirt plays the O’Fallon, Mo., Heritage and Freedom Fest at 12:30 p.m. Joe Dirt is a local rock cover band with an engaging stage presence and a repertoire whose roots couldn’t go any further into the American heartland. Some of the festivals are one- or two-day affairs, but Webster Groves’ Community Days starts on July 1 and runs through the Fourth.

The St. Louis fireworks display will blast off from its usual spot on the river at 9:45 p.m. July 4 and 5. And don’t forget the Veiled Prophet parade Friday morning at 10 a.m., coming south on Fourth Street and turning west on Market, with Union Station as its ending point.

When M. was younger, we never went to the special toddler hours at local pools. He was much happier splashing around with the big kids — and even now, at age 5, he can usually be found challenging the 8-year-olds to cannonball contests. S. is a whole different story!  He loves water, but not when it splashes, or is too cold, or is too deep … and he’s perfectly happy to sit out and watch if the pool doesn’t meet his exact specifications.  Now I know why toddler hours were invented!

The North Pointe Aquatic Center in Ballwin is a great option for us.  The Little Splashers hours are Tuesdays from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., and the age range is 0 to 5.  We can make S. happy for an hour, then let M. romp with the big kids when the pool opens to the public at 11:30 a.m.  The price is right, too:  $3 admission.

Regular admission rates are $4 for resident kids and seniors, $5 for residents age 18 to 62, and $7 for nonresidents. Regular hours through Aug. 13 are 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., then there are special late-season hours through Sept. 1.  Check the homepage for details.  One limitation to note is that the toddlers must stick to the Bucket Falls play area.  If you have any questions, call the pool at 636.227.2981.

This summer, prompted by S.’s near-constant mantra “I love duckies, I love water, I love park,” we’ve been spending a lot of time on the rebuilt River Des Peres through Forest Park. The little nature-lover knows his parks and is not fooled when I try to take him to any section other than his favorite, the area around Deer Lake. Still, we have been recently starting out there and ranging further up- and down-stream, and perhaps soon he’ll allow us to meander over to the Steinberg Prairie (just north and west of the wetlands that used to be the Steinberg Rink parking lot) for one of the special summertime naturalist-led tours on the prairie’s unique ecosystem.

The park offers many free walking tours (see a listing here), but I particularly like that these change with the season: Springtime was for the Kennedy Forest, summer is for the prairie. Hopefully they’ll continue this theme throughout the year! I’ve seen on local birding sites that this prairie is popular for that hobby, and the naturalists promise to point out animals and plants that are not common in urban parks. This is the third week for the tours, which run through July 25 (skipping July 4). Meeting point is the Steinberg Rink parking lot at 10 a.m.

I admit to being a mom who lets her kids pelt their grandmother with water balloons and soak the unsuspecting neighbor with the garden hose while he’s out mowing his lawn. (Well, to be fair, the neighbor was only unsuspecting once! Now he mows with his eyes scanning the fence next door.) I even let M.’s playmate from down the block douse her mom with a SuperSoaker. M’s SuperSoaker, borrowed just for the occasion. Something about 90-plus readings on the thermometer makes me a little crazy.

I’m totally envious of kids 8 to 18 this week, because they’re invited out to the Ice Grass Sledding event at Sioux Passage Park in Florissant on Friday (June 27) from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. That sounds crazy enough for me — and, naturally, I missed the session only for adults last week! But for this tween/teen session, for an $8 fee, pre-registered participants can “hop on a large block of ice and zoom down a giant hill.” (The adjectives are theirs — I’m curious how large and how giant … .) There will also be cold snacks and beverages for everyone.

I’m definitely there for the open-to-everyone session on August 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. ($7 per person). Sign me up, baby! The numbers are 314.355.7374 or 636.391.0922.

Today we saw off my mom and grandmother at the airport after a one-month visit. Sounds like 30 days of stress? Yes, but it was touching to see 2-year-old S. bond with his 91-year-old great-grandmother during that time. She put up with him really well, considering his screams (both of joy and of anger) made her hearing aids go wild, and his most recent trick of turning off the lights while we’re eating meant that she couldn’t see her food even at noon. I only saw her cover her ears once, and she never complained. I hope I’m that kind of 91-year-old!

I also hope I’m the kind of great-grandma who wants to see what her descendants do all day, whether it’s playing in the blow-up pool or letting us maneuver her in a rented wheelchair down gravel park trails or sitting front-and-center at Circus Flora. We did it all and more, and she was a great sport throughout. She placed few conditions on what kind of entertainment she wanted, but she did make one specific request: She wanted to see M.’s “music and lights” because she’s heard so much about the free outdoor concerts he’s so enamored of. Our grand finale night, last night at the Ivory Perry Park concert, was just about perfect — it was shortened a few minutes by rain, but otherwise it exemplified everything “music and lights” should be.

That series is sponsored by the Whitaker Foundation, and in the night’s program there was a short bio of the founder that told of her philanthropic commitment to activities in neighborhood parks. Amen to that from our family! The very name Whitaker seems to attract a deep pool of musical talent, and the Whitaker Urban Evening Series, presented by Grace Hill, is no exception. Local blues singer Kim Massie and Jazz St. Louis head Gene Dobbs Bradford opened it last week; this week’s show is by the quintessential outdoor concert band, Ralph Butler and the Jazz St. Louis All-Stars. It’s on Thursday (June 26) from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at St. Louis Place Park, St. Louis and Rauschenbach avenues in North St. Louis. (There’s a map on the online .pdf flier.)

Filling out the remaining six concerts are some of my favorite local musicians, including Erin Bode, Willie Akins, Javier Mendoza and Jeanne Trevor. This is a great, great opportunity to see them without paying a cover charge — and to expose your kids to some sensational local musicians. Picnics are welcome, or you can buy food on site. For details, call 314.539.9500.

The Whitaker Foundation also sponsors free music at the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saturday morning Tower Grove Farmers’ Market (be sure to check out the kid-centric music the first Saturday of each month!). The schedules for all of its events can be found on its homepage.