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 Early in the evening local attorney, and this weekend, Balloon
Festival volunteer, Bill Bates said he was certain that the crowd
arriving at 4 p.m. this year was much larger than that of last year.
As is always the case, weather dictates just what events do take
place at the airport. This year, high-velocity winds on the ground
for much of the evening proved to be too much for many of the
balloonists. At the pilot meeting held at 5:30 p.m. it was
determined that it would be unsafe to try and do a lift off, and
that portion of the evening was cancelled immediately.
There was also much concern about whether or not it would be safe to
do a glow. During the pilots meeting, it was determined that under
the current wind conditions, it would not be safe. However, there
was also discussion of a possible settling on the wind near dark.
Pilots were told that the decision was their own as to whether or
not they would attempt a glow event.
 The balloons that are flown during this event cost thousands of
dollars to purchase, and a good deal of money to maintain, and even
more if one had to be repaired due to damage. Many of the pilots
decided that it was not worth the risk to stay and glow.
At the end of the evening, three balloons did choose to give it a
try. While the show lasted only a few minutes, the crowd who had
stayed throughout the evening hoping to see a show were happy with
what was presented. They showed their gratitude to Seth Goodman, Jim
Phelan, and Ryan Carlton for sticking it out and waiting for the
wind to die down, if only for a few minutes.
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As the crowd clapped and cheered, the three balloons did a series of
"flicker" and "all glow" shows at the request of event emcee Cameron
Kurtz.
In addition to troubles for the balloonists, there were also no tethered rides
for most of the evening. The tethered balloon inflated but soon had to deflate.
Later it tried again, and this time was able to stay inflated for a short
period.
This year there were more events going on at the airport, and while guests may
have been disappointed to miss out on seeing the balloons in the sky, that did
not drive many of them away.
With live music, inflatable games, an exotic petting zoo, several craft vendors,
and a huge selection of food vendors, many stayed and enjoyed the evening and
took advantage of all the other offerings at this year's event.
[Nila Smith]
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