New Beer Celebrates Hot Air Balloonist, Local Legend

It was 100 years ago this summer that professor Harry Darnell met his maker when he plunged from his hot air balloon in what was supposed to be a death-defying trapeze act over Plainfield’s Electric Park.

Tuesday nightyou can throw back a berry-flavored microbrew to toast poor Darnell’s memory. Limestone Brewing Company is throwing a release party to celebrate the debut of a new blueberry ale that bears Darnell's name.

The Plainfield brew pub concocts a new berry ale every summer to honor the ill-fated professor. Last  year brewmaster Ken Mullen crafted a raspberry wheat ale. This year, it's blueberry.

Darnell’s death is a chapter of Plainfield history that made headlines all the way to the New York Times.

The daring professor had 200 balloon flights under his belt, eight of them in Plainfield. That July 26, he was dazzling tourists from Aurora and Joliet, who had flocked to the fashionable Plainfield resort to catch his trapeze act over the DuPage River.

Electric Park had promised a prize to the Plainfield photographer who captured the most exciting shot of Darnell’s flight. The prize, tragically, went to shooter who clicked his shutter seconds after Darnell lost touch with his trapeze bar.

Two thousand onlookers gaped in horror as Darnell dropped to his death in the DuPage River.

The legend of Darnell is also a tribute to Plainfield’s generosity. When no relative stepped forward to claim Darnell's body -- his brother having died in a balloon fall in DeKalb two years earlier -- Plainfield people ponied up for a monument and buried Darnell in Plainfield Township Cemetery.

The party for Professor Darnell's Berry Ale begins at 7 p.m. There will be free live music by Steve and Bobby K. and chef Darren Smith has painstakingly developed menu items to pair with the new brew.