May 2000
interest in theBalloon Life sponsored contest to
find the best balloon events three category winners were chosen,
best balloon rally in the east and west and the best safety seminar.
The winners of the Third AnnualBalloon Life Best Balloon Event
award are Oldsmobile Balloon Classic Illinois, Danville, Illinois,
Red Rock Balloon Rally, Gallup, New Mexico, and theCarolinas
BalloonAssociationSafetySeminarheldinCharlotte,North
Carolina
What made these events standabove the rest? Here is what
the nominatorshadtosay.
Classic
“This 3-day event, held traditionally on the second weekend
of Juneenjoysincredible communitysupport.The localradio
stationWDAN/WDNLbroadcastslivethroughouttheevent.
Pilotsreceiveexcellenttreatment—forexampleDanvillewas
one of the first events to have a hospitality tent that feeds pilots
and crew three meals per day, every day of the event. Pilot gifts
have always been unique and useful—ranging from an attaché to
a blanket to a bathrobe, among others. Title sponsor Oldsmobile
once even provided every participating pilot a new car to drive for
the weekend.
“Event organizersunderstoodearlyon that balloonsalone
are not enough to support such an event. Promoted as a ‘Land and
Sky’festival,otherattractionshaveincludedarts&crafts,
antiques, miniature golf,laser tag, and even a sand castle building
contest.
“Betweenballoonflightsthe crowdhave beenentertained
by the annual Corporate Cup competition—a hometown Olym-
picstypeeventwhereteamsfromvariouslocalcompanies
compete in suchevent as volleyball, bedraces andmore.
“ButballoonsarethestarsatDanvilleandthatisnever
forgotten. Still the organizers understand that an annual festival
must continuallyredefine itself if it is to remain attractive to its
audience andcompete successfullyfor their entertainmentdol-
lar.
“ThisiswhereInnovationcomesin.EachyearDanville
seeks to bring a newelement to the ballooning aspect of the event.
For example, Danville was the first to successfully stage a night
time launch and competitionfor pilots—the Nightriders. There
wasa lesssuccessfulexperimentwith aDawnPatrolcompeti-
tion. Danville was first to offer a ‘doubles’ competition wherein
(after the first task) the top scoring pilot is teamed with the lowest
scoring, second highest with second lowest, and so on. The event
requires no team coordinationamong the pilots, but their scores
the highest scoring ‘team’ wins
the title and additional prize money.
“Danvillewasalsofirsttoofferaseparatebracketfor
women’s competition. Another year featured the first US exhibit
of Charley Markert’s balloon art when more thana dozen of his
hand-painted balloons were gathered together for a special public
showing with Markert as guest of honor. In 1999, with the theme
From the Earth to the Moonthe event celebrated aviation from
balloons totheSpaceShuttle withlocalShuttleAstronautJoe
Tanner serving as Honorary Balloonmeister.
“Otheruniquefeaturesofthiseventincludeatradition
whereby one rookie pilot is selected by the organizers to receive
a traveling trophy—a wicker elephant coffee table—which they
must decorate and return the following year. Each year the effort
istoout shine the previous winner. A spirit awardisalso given
each year to the pilot who best exemplifies thespirit of ballooning
andthe Classic.
“While manyevents, especiallythose tenyearsand older,
oftenrestonth eirlaurelsandpastaccomplishmen ts,the
OldsmobileBalloonClassicIllinoisisquitepossiblythebest
conceived,mostoriginal,forward-thinkingthree-dayeventin
the world.”
Balloon Rally
“Asthe songgoes,Oh beautiful for spacious skies, sowas
the RedRock BalloonRallyheld inGallup, New Mexico.
“Red RockState Park is one of the most beautiful places in
the world to fly. The balloons glow in the sunlight, framed by the
majesty of the red rocks. Here, the balloons trytodo something
I have never seen before. With great zeal they all try do bump the
rockswiththeirbasketsandenvelopes.Notjustoneortwo
balloons,buteveryonethatcouldwentfortherocks.Whata
marvelous sight. Then Inoticed that people had climbed the rocks
sotheycouldbe right in the middle of all the action.
“TheextremelycoldconditionsinGallupthistimeof the
year doesn’t stop almost 200 balloonists from coming to partici-
pate, making this one of the largest balloon events in the world.
Put onwitha minimal budget, this turnout is a real testament to
beautiful flying. Karl Lohmann, PeterProcopio, and the commu-
nityof Gallup have createda unique balloon event.
“Even if this event didn’t have community balloon launches,
parades, balloon glow in town and in the red rocks, parities and
electrical plugs in the parking lot of the hotel, I’d still go just for
the funof flying. The main objective is to enjoy the scenery and
take up as manycrew people aspossible.”
the readers of Balloon Life
