Marching with the St. Louligans at Soulard Mardi Gras 2020

Yesterday morning (22 February), I drove to downtown St. Louis, parked in the garage just west of Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village, and walked to the staging area just south of the stadium. There, the floats and marchers of the Bud Light Grand Parade of the Soulard Mardi Gras (https://stlmardigras.org/) were assembled. I was there to march in the parade with others from the St. Louligans (https://stlouligans.com/). We were also promoting Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) in the parade.

We gathered for just over two hours before the parade began at 11:00 am. Our group socialized, drank, and prepared our two carts that will hold the beads we would fling to the crowds gathered along the parade route.

We were early in the parade--unit 25 of approximately 100--and we began going down the path from south of Busch Stadium to just north of the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Soulard. Early on, I helped carry our banner at the front of our group. I switched off with someone later in the parade and went towards the back, and helped throw beads to the spectators. It was a lot of fun to do, helped by the pleasant weather for a February in St. Louis. It was the first time I ever attended a Mardi Gras celebration, much less marched in a Mardi Gras parade.

After the parade, I caught a ride on one of the cards up towards the staging area. I then walked around Busch Stadium and Ballpark Village before getting back to the car and driving out of the garage.

I stopped by a Popeyes (https://www.popeyes.com/) restaurant in Affton for lunch before returning home.

Later.

IPMS Gateway Meeting: Contest and a Demo

Last Tuesday night (18 February), I arrived after work at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) for this month's IPMS/Gateway (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) meeting. I brought in the two models I had just finished the night before--a 1:72 scale F6F-5 Hellcat and a 1:76 scale T-34/85 tank--to enter in the Out of the Box Contest. This was the first contest for Modeler of the Year, and all entries were out of the box.

Both models were up against some stiff competition and neither placed in its respective categories. However, I did earn two points for each model--one for entering in the category, and the other for being in the Special Category this month--Out of the Box.

At the meeting, it was announced that IPMS/Gateway will move their meetings from Calvary to Affton Elks Lodge 2635 (https://www.elks.org/lodges/home.cfm?LodgeNumber=2635), starting this April. This move was made necessary by Calvary's announcement last month that they will close this July, due to a declining congregation. I was told that this Elks lodge is a great fit for us--location, size, facilities, and cost.

Also at this meeting, yours truly gave a demo on painting and weathering aircraft landing gears. I used a 1:48 scale P-38J Lightning kit's landing gear parts to demonstrate how to paint then for authenticity. This included using chrome silver paint for the gear struts' oleos, using porter tack putty to mask off wheels while painting tires, and a paint wash for weathering landing gears and gear bays. I also asked the attendees for any thoughts on materials and techniques. This demo went off very well, considering I only firmed up the details the night before.

Later.