by John Fanning
Only one Paris has a taller Eiffel
tower.... and it's in France. Paris, Tennessee founded in 1823 was named
in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, a young French aristocrat who served
on George Washington's staff as an unpaid volunteer. In 1993 an Eiffel tower
built by students at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee,
was donated to Paris and erected in Memorial Park. This has become the site
of their annual Eiffel Tower Days celebration.
This year for the second time the main attraction for their event was the balloon rally. Balloons have taken over as the highlight of the event. The Chamber of Commerce has noticed a remarkable increase in attendance since the balloons became a part of the event. What else should they expect?
Friday evening the winds were very limited. In fact pibals went straight up. Finally after what seemed like hours there was a slight breeze. Balloonmeister David Eastland called for a fly-in to a target on the field across from the high school. Due to the nature and direction of the wind pilots were only required to launch from three-quarter of a mile away. The twelve balloonists and crew left in a cloud of dust. There had been no rain for several weeks. The usual driving up and down the roads took place right at close of business. The roads were full. That makes it hard to turn a truck and trailer around while looking for a launch site. In fact some pilots did not launch at all. Of those that did only six made it to the target field. Since only one pass at the target was allowed, the standings at the close of the task were from first through fifth; John Wade, Dan Davis, Julian Tune, Frank Cartwright, Ray Dionne. Ray was still excited about winning the pole in Bowling Green, Kentucky in June and ready to add Paris to his winnings .
The pilot briefing, Saturday, at Memorial Park was at 5:30 a.m. Some of the volunteer crew people were surprised that the sun was not up yet. Everyone tried to tell them that that was part of ballooning. You get to see a lot of sun rises. Those winds, they were light again. Another fly-in task was called with pilots launching from at least one mile away. There was a $1,500 prize for the pilot who put his ring over the pole. By this time there were fifteen balloons in the event. The light winds made the pilots take the entire two hour flight window to reach the target. Of course some of the time was spent in driving around looking for a launch site. At least one pilot landed and moved to another launch site and still did not reach the target. Only one pilot did reach the target during the time period, Frank Cartwright. Three balloons reached the target as the pole came down. The judges followed one balloon with the pole and let him ring it, to the delight of the crowd. It didn't count.
Saturday evening the balloons tethered at Memorial Park and put on a fantastic balloon glow. The crowd filled the park. In addition to the balloons, which were the best part of the event, there was food, music, antique cars, sports contests, crafts, food, road races, and more food. It was an event for the whole family and something to do all day.
The final standings were first through fifth places: Frank Cartwright, John Wade, Dan Davis, Julian Tune and Ray Dionne. Prize money was paid out to the top three places, $1,000 for first, $750 for second and $500 for third. No one won on the pole but everyone said they will be back next year. Maybe there will be at least thirty balloons then, there should be.
