Saturday night glow laid-back and happy for all

[August 26, 2019]   LINCOLN - On Saturday evening’s balloon glow held in the 300 block of Eighth Street in Lincoln brought the Balloons over 66 weekend to a glorious conclusion.

Perhaps it would be Ward Four Alderwoman Kathy Horns summary of the activity that best says what many people must have been feeling. Horn marveled at the number of people who were edging the entire block to see all the beautiful colors of the hot air balloons lit up. “This goes to show that people do still want to have the balloons in Lincoln. And, it shows that they will come without all the extra vendors and activities.”

Horn is one of many who believe that the Balloons over 66 was a great start to reviving a decades old tradition.

Throughout the weekend, many people offered comments about the activity and to put it simply there were a couple thousand happy people and a couple of sore heads. From pilots to volunteers to spectators and almost everyone was content and even excited about the balloon activities. Several people wished that the Art in the Park and the Flea Market were back.

One person expressed concern over the parking around Eighth Street. On Saturday night, yes, parking was tight, in some areas, but at the same time, it really didn’t seem that many people cared.



Families came walking down the streets from a block or two away carrying their supplies for the evening and found a great spot to build their own little camp, and then everyone just settled in and relaxed. At the end of the night, the area emptied fairly quickly. It was interesting to see the courtesy drivers were showing one another as well as the pedestrians who were still making their way back to their vehicles.

Residents around Eighth Street were also enjoying the balloons. There were several homes where family and friends gathered on porches or in the front yards and just sat and enjoyed the show.

The area where the balloons were to glow was roped off and the public was asked to stay off the grass during the balloon inflation and glow. This was a very different scenario to years past, but again, it appeared that everyone respected the request.



Volunteers lined the roped off area and kept an eye out for safety hazards and were really having a nice time. They were visiting with people they knew in the crowd and just keeping an eye out for anything that might prove to be an issue.



On Pine Street the local boy scouts were the sole food vendor in the area. They were serving up pork chop sandwiches, hot dogs, lemon shake-up and selling candy. They were doing very well staying busy throughout the evening.



Two of their volunteers in the heart of the glow took to the streets selling their candy and getting a lot of takers.

Lincoln Alderman Jeff Hoinacki had helped make arrangements for his son-in-law Chris Slaby to bring a sound system for the glow. During the glow Slaby acted as the emcee and helped cue the pilots to glows and flickers.

On a couple of occasions Slaby called on youngsters in the crowd to come up to the microphone and call out the countdown from ten to one and then “flicker” or “glow.”

Logan County’s new fair royalty, Queen Skye Kretzinger, Junior Miss Anna Kindred and Little Miss Jolie Grisham were also on hand for the glow, enjoying the crowd, visiting with people, posing for pictures, and of course watching the balloons.

For the glow, approximately a dozen balloons participated. On Saturday morning weekend organizer Seth Goodman said that after seeing the inflation on Eighth Street, he knew that there would not be room for all 27 balloons to get upright in the green space. Because there were several dark colored balloons that don’t “glow” well, he had suggested to those pilots that they could skip the glow as participants and just come as guests and spectators.



One particular balloon that many, especially the kids were looking forward to seeing was Wagz, and he did not disappoint. The balloon piloted by Dean Carlton is a teal/turquoise blue background with a cut little puppy as its main feature. Guests especially sitting along the Eighth Street side of the park were in a prime position to see the puppy’s happy face with every flicker and glow.

Other favorites of the night included Cazooee, Memories in Flight, 4 Ever 39, Envy, Jolly Rollo, Cloud Burner III, Knot Over, Tentai the Sequel, Honest Abe, and Reu-Bix.

The light show lasted about 30 minutes. Then it was time to pack up the balloons and move on. All the pilots were invited to attend an end of the weekend gathering at the home of local pilot Ed Dowling.

Reviewing the weekend, Logan County and Lincoln showed its love and support for having the balloons here again.

Kudos to Seth Goodman for bringing this beautiful family activity back. It should also be noted that while Goodman is the mayor of the city of Lincoln, he organized this event not as a city official, but as a pilot and citizen of the community who wants this event to come back to life in Logan County.

The city of Lincoln did not support this event financially, nor did the Logan County Tourism Bureau, they were not asked to. However, the glow Saturday night showed that there were a number of LCTB board and staff on hand to help out. A number of Lincoln aldermen who recognize and support the vision for the future also got involved to show their support as individuals.

In addition, Goodman himself would tell you, he had a lot of support from local businesses and others who wanted to see balloons back in Lincoln. He had a committee of volunteers that helped with the planning, and was surprised by the number of people who showed up on Friday evening willing to volunteer to crew balloons. All-in-all, this was a good thing and we should all be happy and proud of our community.

And, we are already looking forward to next year! We’ll see you then!

[Nila Smith]