by Richard W. Galloway
The 24th Annual Walla Walla Hot
Air Balloon Stampede was almost a non-event. This beautiful little city
at the head of the Columbia River Gorge, has a good track record of putting
on a very impressive show with plenty of balloons. Most times in the past
the event was one of the nicest in the area, only once was it a complete
bust. Weather closed it for the whole weekend in 1992, causing the lowest
morale in the history of the event.
The weekend of May 8, 9, 10th of 1998 were a little better than those faithful days, but only a little. Friday morning was rather overcast and threatened rain, but the real problem was the wind. On Saturday the problem was not wind, but rain. Sunday they put the local weatherman in the dunk tank!
Luckily for the people of Walla Walla the Stampede has been geared to happen even if the balloons cannot leave the ground. Even with great weather, the balloons only take up a small part of the day and this year it was really one sided.
Cory Perkins-Hewitt had resigned her job as chief of the Balloon Stampede right after the 1997 event and moved on to become manager of the Walla Walla Fair and Frontier Days. As a paid member of the Walla Walla Chamber of Commerce she had ran the Stampede from 1988 to 1997 and was very familiar with the process. That was to be one of the saving factors in this years course of happenings.
Heidi Vaughn, her replacement at the Chamber of Commerce and was put in charge of getting things organized for 1998. She did a respectable job right up to the final stages. Problems came about in April when Heidi departed the area and left things in a lurch, just twenty five days before the launch date.
Cory, with the help of dedicated volunteers from past events and lots of hours on the phone, was able to pull off the finial details to make things run smoothly. Without the balloons flying people still were able to play golf, (Walla Walla Hot Air Classic Tournament), be a participant in the Balloonsday Fun Run, (a 5K course) or do the Balloonsday Dog Walk, join the Balloon Stampede Volleyball Tournament, and for the really outdoor type, attend an Orienteering meet.
Orienteering is something we all do to a certain extent every time we read a map, although you may not call it that. For this one you must also be in shape because it is a timed course, put on by the Sacajawea Orienteers.
There were also; Antique car shows, Juried Arts an Crafts Shows, Band concerts, dancing exhibitions, a Gold Wing Rider Show, a Caravan & Show and Shine put on by local Car and motorcycle clubs. There was also a special place for the kids called Adventureland with 24 different entries.
For those just young of heart there was Pari-mutuel horse racing at the fairgrounds. As you can tell from this list of events there was never a lack of things to see or do.
OH, did I forget to mention the Sky divers that jumped all day Saturday? They did jumps every hour on the hour and some in-between if they could get into the air fast enough.
The skydivers were enough to keep the people coming out to the field in anticipation of the balloons lifting off.
This makes us wonder just when a balloon event becomes a balloon event. The people in charge at Walla Walla will tell you this was a successful year. The balloons were a very important part of the whole, but only a part. Did the balloons dampen the sprits of the general public by not lifting off, not that I could tell. They came to see all the other events in spite of the weather. Would they have enjoyed the day better with the balloons in the air, undoubtedly, yes. Did it stop the whole show, no.
The early season shows are always iffy when it comes to weather and all should be prepared to do other things if that happens. Then one can only hope and wait for better weather to see the glorious sight of balloons inflating and lifting off.
By Saturday afternoon a few were able to do just that. Taking chances with weather that was producing dark and threatening thunder clouds on three side they lifted off for short flights over the town.
I think after watching the number of people materialize there is some sort of subliminal message that comes from balloons as they leave the ground. The first balloon to lift off had an audience of about one hundred people, by the time the last one of the eight balloons left the ground there had to be five times that many. People magnets are big, beautiful and full of hot air, did you know that?
