Saw a posting down by Lake Calhoun earlier this week, advertising a
big water balloon fight going down at 2pm, so when I took off for my ride today, I planned it to coincide with that event.
I think the event was originally supposed to happen in the park, right next to the Stone Arch in St Anthony Main, but I suspect the prospect of cleaning up the aftermath of several thousand water balloons in the grass prompted a change of venue to a concrete pad immediately adjacent to the
Soap Factory gallery/art space.
When I showed up around 2, there were maybe 20-25 people milling about. But by the time they started dividing the group into "Orange" team and "Blue" team, the numbers had swelled to probably 100 people or so. Large cardboard boxes were stood on end to provide cover, and a chicken wire baracade was set up in the center of the field (balloons exploded on contact w/the chicken wire, resulting in a burst of spray to soak anyone behind the screen (and there usually were people behing the screen, cause that's where half the balloons were sitting.
I don't remember a whistle being blown to start the fight, I think someone on my team (Orange) launched a cheap shot into Blue territory, Blue retaliated, and the fight was on! And was it ever on! I can't put into words how insanely fun this was - the one time I slowed down, I realized I was soaked to the bone and laughing maniacally.
The whole thing happened so fast, I bet it lasted maybe only 5 minutes - the organizers supplied several thousand balloons, and several of the players brought there own (in 5 gallon buckets or laundry baskets) as well.
The pictures I snapped were right near the end, as the action was really dying down. So they don't accurately convey the scene (there were several people photographing, so if I come across better pictures, I'll post 'em here later.)
Probably the coolest thing was the fact that nearly everyone stuck around to clean up the mess we made - there were rubber fragments strewn about everywhere, and they all needed to be picked up off the ground, and out of the giant puddle that had collected in the middle of the field.
Way fun!
