ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals, along with a whole posse of St. Louisans, will soon take over London for the games of a lifetime against the Chicago Cubs.
This was actually a trip that was supposed to happen in 2020 and was postponed by the pandemic.
The Executive Director of the World Trade Center St. Louis Tim Nowak said now that it's finally happening the delegation made up of several different leaders hope to grow European Relationships that could have a lasting impact on St. Louis.
"We'll spend a few days in advance of the games doing a few events and promoting St Louis, connecting with businesses in London who have an eye towards North America. And why wouldn't they want to do that from St Louis?" Nowak said.
Catherine Neville with Explore St. Louis says they hope they can continue to build up tourism with more flights from Europe; pointing to the year anniversary of direct flights from Germany to St. Louis.
"When you can show success like we've been able to demonstrate with the flights from Lufthansa, which are doing much better than anyone anticipated, that kind of success leads to other opportunities," Neville said.
Nowak said they also want to lure in geospatial and ag tech companies as those industries continue to grow in the Lou.
"39 North Innovation District, Danforth Plant Science Center and all of the other investment in the ag tech space that surrounds that really provides a soft landing for these companies," Nowak said.
But it’s not all about sports and the economy -- another group of businesses is delivering the flavor: 4Hands Brewing Company is bringing St. Louis beer paired with Sugarfire Barbecue at the US Embassy in London.
"So we're doing like an hors d'oeuvres lunch so we're doing little brisket canapé and I'm doing kind of a British twist on some things we do, like little sausage rolls," Sugarfire Smoke House Partner Mike Johnson said.
Johnson said it's a great opportunity to share his barbecue worldwide.
"It means a lot. I've been lucky enough over the years, I've been in Australia a lot and Brazil a lot and Europe a lot, talking about barbecue and doing big barbecue festivals and spreading not only how we do it at Sugarfire, but as an American Barbecue ambassador," Johnson said.
The two-game series is next weekend -- Saturday, June 24 through the 25th at London Stadium, which is actually a soccer field being transformed into a baseball stadium.