I'm pretty sure that, until six years ago, there had never been a hot-air balloon over Mitchell, South Dakota.
I'm pretty sure that, until six years ago, there had never been a hot-air balloon over Mitchell, South Dakota.
I did meet a stripper here, in the '70s, who claimed she had a balloon, and was going to give tethered rides in the morning. But then, she said it was too windy. That's a whole different story. We've come a long ways since that day.
Ever since the Soukup & Thomas International Balloon & Airship Museum moved here in 1992, our Chamber of Commerce has sponsored the Corn Palace Balloon Rally. As a volunteer pilot for the museum, I've had the opportunity to put faces with many of the names I've seen in Balloon Life magazine.
At our rally, I've met Don Piccard, Ed Yost, Alan Fraenckel, David Rapp, Mike Wallace, Mark Sullivan, Tom Sheppard, and a host of others. Every year, our rally gets a little bigger and a little better. This year was no exception.
I was late getting to the pilot/sponsor mixer at the Holiday Inn, and it didn't really dawn on me, how fortunate we are, until the 9:00 PM briefing by Event Director, Jacques Soukup.
Jacques, of course, is a co-founder of the Soukup & Thomas Balloon Museum. He also happens to be the President of the FŽdŽration AŽronautique Internationale's International Ballooning Commission (CIA). If you watched the network news clips of Steve Fossett's round-the-world record attempt, you caught a glimpse of Jacques in the chase plane.
Kirk Thomas, the museum's other founder, and the Safety Officer for our event, was the vice-president of the FAI Public Relations Committee. Jacques and Kirk have participated in each of our rallies, so if no one else shows up, we still have a pretty good start on high-level brass.
And, speaking of Steve Fossett... I knew he was being inducted into the Ballooning Hall of Fame which is housed at the Museum, and that he would be the speaker at our Sunday Brunch.
I also knew that South Dakota Governor William Janklow - who is co-owner of a balloon with Sioux Falls pilot, Gerald Teunissen - had selected our rally to host the nation's First Annual Governor's Cup Balloon Challenge, and that 10 states had responded to his invitation, in addition to the 35 balloons that normally participate.
Jacques introduced our Meteorologist, Lou Billones.
I'd seen his name on the Internet balloon discussion group. He plots weather for Steve Fossett, and helped to steer him around Libya last winter. Our weather briefings were going to be in very capable hands.
Jacques continued, "Your Launch Director is Nick Saum."
I'd met Nick, Fossett's launch director, at the first round-the-world attempt from the Stratobowl, in the Black Hills. Nick is a no-nonsense kind of guy, who also happens to be the current World Rozier Record holder.
Most of my work for this rally had been at the Mitchell Airport launch site, and I hadn't paid much attention to what the rest of the committee was doing. Now, it looked as though they'd paged through the latest issues of Balloon Life, and decided to go right for the top.
I looked around the room.
I recognized Karl Stefan, the past President of the CIA. At our first rally brunch, I'd happened to sit with Karl. I didn't know who he was, but we had a nice visit. Now I know who he is, and he's been a regular at our event ever since.
Dennis and Sharon Ripperger, Chet Creutzburg and David Martin took charge of measuring. Sharon, I knew, was the Office Administrator for the Balloon Federation of America, and all of them have helped at our rallies before.
Jim Thompson, former President of the BFA - represented Iowa in the Governor's Challenge.
Gary Britton, Sec/Treas of the BFA Competition Division - would be our scoring officer. Gary gave me my first balloon ride, 6 years ago.
Ron Behrmann - every year, his name appears on the pictures of the balloon calendar my wife gets me for Christmas. Maybe I could get some photo tips...
Mark West - is the President of Aerostar International. His company makes balloons. (duh!)
Other names and faces were familiar... lots of good friends at this rally. Too bad the next briefing was scheduled so darned early in the morning.
Saturday dawned pink, much to the chagrin of Nick Saum, who prefers blue skies.
Lou gave us the go-ahead. Jacques called multiple judge declared goals - and the pilots headed for the field.
J.P. Skelly, our announcer, is gaining a regional reputation for his skills at the microphone and his obvious love of ballooning. He kept the growing crowd informed, as the balloons launched into the morning winds
For this rally, I was to fly Chesty, the Marine Corps Mascot, owned by Kirk's sister, Kim Adamson, but housed and flown by museum pilots. Chesty has a habit of doing a 180 degree turn above the basket before launch, which leaves a knot of expensive twisted kevlar cables right in the path of the burner flames. Usually, I put a second tie-down harness on the downwind side of the balloon, but we can't attach the second rope until we know which way the balloon is going to turn. My crew had worked with Chesty before, and knew what to expect.
I hadn't heard from my sponsor, KSFY Television. It's normal that a rider from their station not show up in the morning, so I asked one of my crew, Ed Olson, to go. Ed is a former state legislator, and was to be inducted, later in the day, into the Hall of Fame at Dakota Wesleyan University. It would be a nice beginning to what was going to be a great day for him. His step-mother had flown in from New York to see him get the award, so I invited her along.
Our flight took us southwest and directly over Lake Mitchell. I could see that, as the balloons dropped in over the shoreline, they stopped nearly dead above the water. We could splash and dash until we became bored, and ascend to resume playing with the wind.
I hoped Ron Behrmann was getting some good photos. We were off to the right of the other balloons, and it sure looked pretty from where we were.
I asked Ed if he minded getting his feet wet, but I don't think he was paying attention - busy plugging away with his camera, or maybe he thought I was kidding. I misjudged our descent. You should have seen the look on his face, when I dunked him to mid-thigh.
As a special-shapes pilot, I don't usually get too deeply into the competition, and I'll opt for giving farm animals ample room, rather than approaching too low, just to get a wind. As a consequence, I never score very well, and have to confess that on this whole weekend, I never saw a target.
Mitchell is surrounded by farm country. We do have one ostrich breeder, and some horses, but generally, unless it's been a wet spring, there are plenty of pastures for landing. It's simply a matter of how long you want to stay in the air. We flew for about 45 minutes, and landed with four other balloons. None of them could have seen the target, either.
After refueling, Jacques and Kirk hosted the pilots and crew to a pork barbecue (with plenty of Coca-Cola - one of our sponsors) at Camp Arroya, a private, secluded park on the lake. Some stayed to visit, while others headed downtown to tour the museum, and take in the Arts Festival in Hitchcock Park
I still hadn't heard from KSFY-TV. Their camera crew arrived to interview the Governor, but as soon as the tape was in the can, they rushed back to the studio.
Jacques sent the Governor's pilots out, to fly back to a launch field target, and then on to the X, which Governor Janklow agreed to place from a hare balloon. 4,000 people roared approval as he launched aboard Uncle Sam, with the museum's chief pilot, Wayne Hajek, at the controls.
The Corn Palace pilots flew from the airport towards judge declared goals.
I offered two more of my crew an adventure. This time we headed north, eyes peeled for the target.
We saw Dave Miller land Balloon-Hilda, another of the museum's shapes - only to hear later that vehicle access was impossible, and they'd carried the 500 pound balloon, a quarter of a mile out to the road.
We saw deer, jackrabbits, and pheasants, and passed up several spots with young row crops, finally choosing a mowed field on the edge of Letcher, 10 miles north of Mitchell.
And, like I said, we never saw an X.
Sunday... rain. Lou had warned us. The pilots went back to bed, while the committee prepared for brunch at the Elks Club.
Each year, during the closing ceremonies, two aeronauts are entered into the Ballooning Hall of Fame.
Our 1997 posthumous inductee is Salomon August AndrŽe, a Swedish gas balloonist. On July 11, 1897, AndrŽe, Nils Strindberg and Knut Fraenkel (along with several carrier pigeons for sending messages) launched aboard the Eagle in an attempt to fly over the North Pole. Their remains, along with diaries and films were discovered 33 years later by Norwegian hunters. AndrŽe and his crew had flown for 65 hours and covered 400 kilometers, until an accident forced them to the ice. Worn out and hungry, they marched as far as White Island, before succumbing to the harsh conditions and/or trichinosis, three months later. (See Balloon Life, January 1994 Special Report on the AndrŽe Expedition. Visit our web site at http://www.balloonlife.com where the article is available free in the Archives section.)
You all know, of course, of Steve Fossett's accomplishments. He showed slides of his two record attempts, and apologized for ending such a high profile flight (much to his embarrassment) in the trees. He returned the South Dakota flag - given to him by Gov. Janklow at the Stratobowl launching - to the state archives, and during questioning, declared his intentions to make another r-t-w attempt. He outlined his training regimen, which includes sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber, to acclimate his body to 18,000 feet, and explained that, in contrast to the other contenders, he believes the circumnavigation can be made in an unpressurized capsule. He signed autographs and stood for photos as long as the cameras kept flashing.
Nila Martinek, committee chairperson, presented every pilot with a Black Hills Silver Tie-tack, and each of the Governor's pilots received a special edition red, white, and blue Governor's Cup jacket, and a photo of themselves with Janklow. Engraved Lucite trophies went to the top three finishers.
The top Corn Palace contenders received engraved silver plates, and Jon Kolba was awarded the Mitchell Rotary Club Traveling Trophy, for flying the longest distance.
We've come a long way, since the stripper in the 70s. Haven't we?
Results from the First Annual SD Governor's Cup Balloon Challenge
1. Nebraska - Dave Edmister
2. Missouri - Gary Sines
3. Delaware - Charles Wagner
4. Iowa - Jim Thompson
5. North Dakota - John Boulger
6. Illinois - Max Mitchell
7. New Mexico - Bruce Hale
8. Minnesota - Curt Shippy
9. Kansas - Bruce Skack
10. South Dakota - Gerald Teunissen
Corn Palace Rally results -
1. Gary Britton - Slinger, WI
2. Frank Urbanski - Dakota Dunes, SD
3. Jon Kolba -Sioux Falls, SD
