September 2000
Quebec liesin
a fertile plainjustsouthof Montreal and
only 25 km (17 miles) from the US border.
The 2000 event was held from August 12-
20with125balloons participatingfrom
aroundthe world.
Inaddition toCanadian andAmeri-
can balloons, there were others from Bra-
zil, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Numerous special shapes continue to
attend this popularfestival. The ever popu-
larSunny Boy,Mr. WinterandMiss Au-
tumnwerejoinedbytheSpace Shuttle,
Hagar The Horribleandmanyothers
fromthe US.
TwodetailedballoonsfromBrazil
werealsoinattendance.Amazon Birds
was designed to symbolize the fragility of
life in the Amazon rain forest as the huge
tree shelters birds on its’ trunk. The other
was theClown’s Head. This was the first
time either of these balloonshave flown
inCanada.
The pair ofballoons calledUp Side
Down(Festo) are a real eye opener as one
ofthem appears to be flying inverted! The
basketisvirtuallyinsidetheenvelope.
These Dutchtwins create interest every-
where they fly.
Inadditionto the Festival’smascot,
the Canadian special shapes included the
Yellow PagesTelephone BookandPapi-
The Pharmacist.
Thearrangementforthefestivalis
thatmorninglaunchesoccuratvarious
parksandindustrial areas throughoutSt.
Jeanwitheveningflightscommencing
fromtheairportlocationthatalsocon-
tainsacompletecarnivalandentertain-
ment stages.
After a terrific start to the event and
completing eight flights in arow,Wednes-
dayandThursday’s flightswere all can-
celed as a result of poor weather allowing
thepilotsandcrewstocatchup ontheir
sleep.
Fridaymorning’sflight allowedfor
some great opportunitiesfor steerage for
the pilots as they navigated over the nearby
Richelieu River at various altitudes. High
windseliminatedanypossibilityfora
flight on Friday evening. Lingering winds
onSaturdaymorningresultedinabout
halfoftheballoo nstaking
flight.Someoftheresulting
land ingsrequiredsufficien t
room for the baskets to drag as
muchas25meters(75feet)
before coming toa halt.
ConditionsforSaturday
evening’s flight from the Festi-
val site was windy once again.
And again this resulted in about
half of the pilots deciding to fly
withothersremainingonthe
groundastheyrecalledtheir
landings earlier in the day!
Unfortun atelyovernig ht
rains resulted in a cancellation
of the last flight of the festival
andallowedall participantsto
relaxpriortothebrunchthat
was held on behalf of the event
organizersforallpilotsand
crew.Itwasduringthislun-
cheonthattheCanadianBal-
loon Association announced the
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
Balloon Festival
titionwasheldinconjunctionwiththe
Festival.
TheMr.ChristieBalloonFestival
continues toattract great numbers of en-
tertainment including internationalrecord-
ingartistsinconcert,afantasticplay-
ground for children and a spectacularview
of 125 hot air balloons.
Editor’s note: An article on the 2000
Canadian Championship will appear in
the October issue.
Special Shape
