January 2000
south was created for a movie that was
hardly anyone ever heard of. Some 200
balloonists attendedthefirstFreedom
Weekend Aloft festival in Greenville in
1982. Producers of an independent film
wanted the city to host a balloon festival
as a backdrop to their movie on a Fourth
of July weekend.
“Anytime you can bring attention to
a community and get some national rec-
ognition, it’s agoodthing,” saidKeri
Hall, executive director of the festival.
The festivalcame off withouta hitch,
evenwithstunt menridingontop of
balloons andscaling downthem.The
movie,Hot Heir, had avery limitedshow-
ing, but the community continued its as-
sociation with ballooning to raise money
for local and regional charities, provide
residents with affordableentertainment
and bring media attention to the Green-
ville area.
Local hotels donated rooms for the
200 balloonists. “The hotel owners felt it
behooved them to supportus strongly, so
the first eight or nine years they gave us
free hotelrooms,”said Gene Funderburk,
a balloonist and chairman of the rally’s
flying events committee.
When the event became more popu-
lar and more touristscame to town to see
the balloons, hotel roomswerenot as
available, so the number of balloons was
limited to 100.
TheGreenvilleChamberofCom-
merce organized the eventeachyear until
1987, when the festival became a non-
profit corporation.That first year,bad
weatherstruckandtheorganizers lost
$75,000. Itwas a debtthat wasn’t cleared
until1990, Hall said.
Mostprofitsnowaregivento
children’scharities—nearly$150,000
since 1990—and some is kept to build a
reservefund when badweather strikes
again. “We are stillweather reliant,”Hall
said. Much of their budget comes from
food and ride sales and concert sales.
But to keep the balloonists happy,
they were asked suggestions how to im-
prove the event. “They said we want it to
be a fun and festive and relaxed event, but
we want itto be enough cashandprizes to
be some level of competition,” Hall said.
About$20,000incash prizesare
paid, inadditiontomerchandiseanda key
grab for a Pontiac.
After oneparticularlyswelteringrally
which featured a 110-degree heat index,
organizers deduced that the rally may be
better off on a weekend other than the
Fourthof JulyinSouthCarolina. Nowthe
rally is held Memorial Day weekend.
And in 1999, the event moved from
GreenvilletoAnderson, about20minutes
away. The new location offered a more
spaciousfestivalsite and betterflying
area than Greenville, where development
has taken away some landing areas.
But even in Anderson, pilots are re-
quired to have a minimum 75 hours “be-
area,” Funderburk said.
Up to 200,000 spectators attend the
festival.
“Yes,thehot-airballoons arethe
stars,but atthe sametimewithin this
event,wehavelargemarqueetalent,”
Hallsaid. Thisyear, Hootieandthe Blow-
fish and Earth Wind & Fire performed.
The success ofFreedomWeekend
Aloft was partly responsible for getting
dozens of balloonistsin northwest South
Carolina involved in thesport.One of
themis Charles Loucks,of Greenville,
whogot hooked while crewing at the
rally.
But for some reason, the number of
balloonists there has dwindled in recent
years. “It used to be there were a lot of
balloonists here, but they either moved
awayorgottenanotherjob,”hesaid.
“Yousaw balloonsinthe air allthe time.”
It’s notfor a lack of great flying area.
“It’sbeautifulhere,”he said. “Wehave all
kindsof terrain,withmountainareas north
of us, sand hills around the coastal area
and flatlands around Columbia. And in
the north part,wehavealot ofopen
farmland.”
Loucksisballoonmeister ofa smaller
event in Anderson held prior to Freedom
WeekendAloft.Since1997,upto20
balloonshaveflownweekendsatthe
Anderson County fair for informal com-
petition. Commercial pilots can also sell
rides to the public if they wish, he said.
Many balloonistsin the state belong
to theCarolinasBalloonAssociation,
based in North Carolina. South Carolina
had a balloonclub, theWesternCarolinas
BalloonAssociation, based inGreenville,
but interest in it has waned.
“Thelasttwomeetings,noone
showed up except meand my family,”
saidWayneO’Shields,theclub’slast
president. He said the clubstarted around
1991and at one time, 250 pilotsand crew
from the Carolinas were members.
January 2000
Members of hisclubandthe Georgia
Balloon Association used to organize a
flight from Georgia into South Carolina.
“We used to be able to get 15 balloons
together,” O’Shields said. “You can’t do
that now. It just seems that people have
lostinterest init.”He saidthere used tobe
30 activeballoonists within a20-mile
radius. Now, there are two.
O’Shields, whocharges$200forbal-
loonrides, saidbusinessispoor.He doesn’t
even plan to makeenough to cover his
balloon insurance this year, he said.
The number of pilots has dwindled
enough where balloonists can rattle off
where other pilots live: about a dozen in
northernSouthCarolina,acouplein
Charleston, two or three in Columbia and
one in Myrtle Beach.
“We’reprobablythe onlyballoonfor
100 miles doing a ride business,” said
GeneElliott,of Florence,who moved
fromthe Chicago arealast yearin an
attempt to operate a ride business from
Myrtle Beach.
And it’s been challenging. He meets
his passengers at a mall and drives them
upto30 milesinland, near Conway, toget
awayfrom theoceanandmarshes.“People
onthe beach don’t see us flying,”he said.
But theflying area is betteraway
from the coast. “We have farm country,
pine trees and afewswamps here and
there,” he said.“I have to be careful I
don’tflyoutof a safe flyingarea. Navigat-
ingis the key. I’m flying onthe perimeter
of a lot of river bottoms where you just
can’t recover.”
Mostof hisflightsare at dawn. “You
can fly all year round, but the problem in
the summeris it’svery hot.But June
through August is just great.”
It’s flat in that part of the state and
passengers usually see plenty of deer be-
low. “Flying out hereis alot of fun,”
Elliottsaid. “And the landowners are just
great. We’ve never had a problem.”
Otherthanthesummerheat,the worst
part about ballooninginSouthCarolina is
dealing withhurricane season inSeptem-
berandOctober. Althougha storm’swinds
will render ballooning obviously out of
the questionfor several days, balloonists
may be grounded longer. Elliott’s flying
area wasflooded three weeksafter Hurri-
cane Floyd struck in September.
“Itwasso saturated, youcan’tland,”
he said.
Events:
Anderson Spring Fair and Hot-AirBalloonFestival, 20 balloons, in
Anderson, end of April; balloons are part of a 10-day carnival and fly the
opening and closing weekends; Glows and tethers scheduled Friday and
Saturday evenings, with informal competition flights Saturday and Sunday
mornings with $500 cash prize each weekend. Contact: Anderson County
Fair, 431 Williamston Road, P.O. Box 274, Anderson, SC 29622. 864-226-
6114.
Pontiac’sFreedomWeekend Aloft,Memorial Dayweekend,100
balloons in Anderson. Glow and tether Friday evening, with six scheduled
flights Saturday morning through Monday evening. Competitions for cash
and prizes,includingakeygrabfora Pontiac. Contact:1990 AugustaSt. Suite
202, Greenville, SC 29605. 864-232-3700. www.freedomwkend.org
