By Carson & Martha Lane
"If you see someone without one, give them one of yours."
Of course this quote refers to a smile, but this story is about "Special Smiles" and how they are shared with "Special People" before, during, and after ballooning.
Those "special smiles" are better known as Balloon Cards. The baseball type collector cards with a color picture of a hot air balloon on one side and written information about the balloon and pilot on the other side. Those "special people" are just about anyone we, as balloonists, come in contact with.
It was when we got involved in
ballooning that we made our first discovery of the immense positive energy
that balloons generate that makes people feel good (it certainly did that
to us). This renewed feeling transforms into an attitude of fulfillment
and becomes visible when people tend to forget their day-to-day challenges
and in most cases develop a great big smile and bright eyes. It's incredible
to witness how the lives of people are changed when they just have fun ballooning.
Shortly after that, we discovered Balloon Cards, an inexpensive way to add another dimension to the fun and adventure of ballooning. This dimension extends well beyond ballooning. It leaves landowners with more than just a memory. It lets people know you're in business without telling them. It breaks the ice when you are among strangers. It gets you seated more quickly in a restaurant. It stops a child from crying in the grocery store. It creates an instant smile on someone's face.
Like a compass or a tieback, Balloon Cards have now become a necessary part of our ballooning experience and also our everyday life. When ballooning, it's not uncommon to get up early in the morning, knock on a perfect stranger's door, and ask permission to launch a balloon in their back yard. With few exceptions, the response from the weary eyed landowner is, "Sure, help yourself." As an afterthought, we often wondered what the response would be if we were going fishing and woke someone up at daylight and asked permission to launch our boat from his or her property, but that's another story.
As a way of saying we appreciate their hospitality, we give the landowner a balloon card. Little did we know the card would give the landowner the evidence they needed to verify the unbelievable story about the huge balloon that took off in that little tiny spot in the back yard. It will be on their refrigerator forever. And then when we land and give the landowner a card, the landowner says, "But I have 10 grandchildren." So, we give him or her a dozen cards so they too can share in the fun of ballooning. Landowners are our heroes.
When attending balloon events, we always give balloon cards to the volunteers. Why? For the smiles of course. Also, knowing they volunteered for a balloon event, the card will serve as a reminder of a good time. But, the most important reason we give them a card is to make them feel important and to say thanks for helping make the event possible. An extraordinary thing happens when we do this. We always seem to get really special treatment from the volunteers.
Even when not ballooning the cards work magic. We'll walk into a nice restaurant that has a forty-five minute wait. We present a balloon card to the person taking reservations and say, "We are the Mardi Gras Magic Hot Air Balloon Team and have chosen your restaurant to have dinner." If they look at the card and smile, we will invariably be seated in a much shorter time and given special treatment. Give waiters a card and they give you confidential tips on the food and much better service. Sometimes even the owner or manager will come out and talk to you about your balloon and make sure everything is OK.
We love to give Balloon Cards
to children when shopping and watch their reaction. Once, after helping
a grandmother settle her "spoiled" crying grandchild by giving
the child a card, we got a call from the grandfather. He wanted to know
if we could take him and his wife for a ride in a hot air balloon. He said
it was a longtime dream of theirs. Wonder how he knew we offer balloon rides?
Speaking of kids. One of the things we do to spread that immense positive energy that ballooning provides is putting up our balloon at schools in the area. This is a real treat for the kids, especially since they get out of class. Then we give the teacher a handful of balloon cards to use as academic incentives for the students when they are back in class. This way, the good image of ballooning stays alive at the school long after the balloon is gone.
Recently a reporter asked Kevin Knapp, who owns and flies the "Army" balloon, if balloon trading cards had any value. Knowing the reporter was looking to write about the monetary value of the cards, Kevin asked him "How do you place a value on a smile? How do you place value on a card kept in a `special box' and placed on a night stand next to a young boy's bed because he's part of the `balloon team'? How do you place value on the magic of a memory that `this' balloon came to my school or landed in my yard?"
Now, some people do collect Balloon Cards like others collect Baseball Cards. Some Balloon Cards are sold in sets as Trading Cards. But, Balloon Cards to us will always be our way of expanding and extending the fun we have ballooning. So, when people, both young and old, ask us what they have to do to get a balloon card of our balloon, we simply say, "Smile."
