Festivals and Events

Balloon Glow is a very special annual St. Louis tradition! It usually comes right around the beginning of the M1 year, so it’s a great thing to do with your new classmates. There are about 20-40 hot air balloons set up in Forest Park, and you can walk around them and watch them glow as evening sets in. This year, the festivities were capped off with paratroopers coming in from above, a concert, food trucks, and fireworks. The day after Balloon Glow, the hot air balloons participate in The Great Forest Park Balloon Race which can be seen from campus or the rooftops of some of the nearby apartment buildings.

Shopping at farmers’ markets is a great way to support St. Louis’s local businesses, and it’s often cheaper and fresher than the grocery store! The Soulard Farmers’ Market is located just south of downtown (about a 10-minute drive from campus) and is advertised as the oldest public market west of the Mississippi. It’s open year-round from Wednesday to Saturday during business hours, but there are the most vendors present on Friday and Saturday mornings. It’s a great spot to pick up affordable produce and confections, but you can find just about anything there, including every type of meat imaginable (seriously), various breads, plants, clothes, and souvenirs. There are also $3 cocktails to sip on while you shop around, and make sure you bring cash because many vendors don’t take cards. In addition to the Soulard market, many local neighborhoods have vibrant farmers’ markets during harvest seasons, including University City and Tower Grove. Touring a farmers’ market is a great way to spend a weekend morning and get in touch with the local community!

Festival of Nations is an awesome, annual, free admission event in Tower Grove Park where there are over 100 local vendors and performers from cultures all over the world. I went to Festival of Nations for the first time as an M1 and had a blast sampling different cuisines and listening to live performances on a huge stage. Be prepared to spend money and look out for the weather forecast before going.

Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden is one of my favorite holiday season events in St. Louis. It usually runs from mid-November to early January and involves the already gorgeous garden being decorated with nearly two million lights. There’s both projection light shows and light tunnels lining the walking paths throughout the spacious garden grounds. It has a very magical feel and is the perfect place for a cute photo op with friends or a cozy, romantic date.

Mardi Gras is a really fun St. Louis tradition that we look forward to every year! St. Louis actually hosts the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the country (after New Orleans, of course). All the streets in Soulard are closed down, people throw beads, and there’s a great parade with a ton of floats.

At the end of September, the city of St. Louis hosts a few different Oktoberfest celebrations. Oktoberfest is a German-based holiday, and given the large amount of German heritage in St. Louis, it is no surprise that we do it well. Take some time off from studying to put on your lederhosen and enjoy a bratwurst and a stein full of lager.