by Cindy Petrehn
It was the first time,
that I have had the opportunity to attend the Thunderbird Balloon Classic
in Scottsdale Arizona. As usual, the Arizona weather allowed for a full
weekend of flying and glowing beginning on Friday evening with "A Taste
of the Glow." The evenings activities included a splash and dash that
sent crew members scrambling to find trash cans to cover the sprinklers
that had been overlooked on the field.
The event was hosted in part by Cox Communications. They showed off some of their newest icommunications technology with their local news teams reporting live from on the field, interviewing pilots on the ground and from in the baskets during the flight with microwave transmitters. They reported play by play action from the targets. Balloon commentator Glen Moyer and the "On Field" talent were perched on a lift with huge "diamond vision" screens showing the action live for the crowds to see while it was happening.
As the sun rose on Saturday morning, Toby Brown in the new Lindstrand Weather Channel Balloon played hare for the first wave of competition. The hare for the second wave was Mark Johnson of Phoenix, Arizona and The Special Shapes followed in a third wave after keeping the crowds entertained with their inflations.
Saturday morning the winds
kicked up and took some of the balloons over target areas that were flagged
off, with scoring officials, however, at one of them, the scoring officials
forgot to lay out the X. Sunday morning, light and variable winds made it
a little harder to reach the targets as the winds would shift ever so slightly
in a normal desert flow. We flew just out of reach of two targets but watched
as several other pilots gently dropped their baggies into the X. Many of
the pilots flew late into the morning, landing just before getting caught
up in the desert thermals.
Saturday evening featured the "Desert glow" with many special shapes including the classic Montgolfier, the Space Shuttle, Famous Footwear Shoe, MTV, Norwest Piggy Banks, the Birthday Cake and many round balloons illuminating the night air. The crowds were immense, traffic intense, and many people couldn't get into the event area on Saturday night. Next year they will have a new traffic flow that will allow for the ever increasing number of spectators.
Sunday morning, local children tested their balloon building skills and sent tissue paper balloons up into the sky, there were some great food vendors and Unicorn Balloons provided tether rides far into the afternoon.
