With a slogan of "Like No
Place On Earth," Wyoming lives up to its billing by treating balloonists
to beautiful vistas, big game and plenty of wide open spaces.
And pilots get to soak it all up during several balloon festivals held there each summer.
For the past 18 years, the Riverton Rendezvous has been held on the third weekend of July in Riverton, near the center of the state. A media flight is scheduled Friday morning, with other flights scheduled Saturday and Sunday mornings.
"We try to do evening flights and an evening glow, but the winds tend to kick up in the evenings," said Susan Skidmore, the festival chairwoman. "The norm is two great flights in the mornings. Our morning flights are always truly wonderful."
About 35 balloonists attend the event.
"We get some very good pilots," she said. "One of the reason is we're small and the flying is good."
Businesses pay $450 to sponsor a balloon for the weekend. Pilots compete in a hare and hound with $1,000 in prize money. A $500 pole grab has been won four times.
Each year, a special celebrity balloonist is honored and is asked to do a guest talk during the rally. Past luminaries have included Colorado ballooning legend Nick Saum; the pilot of the Smokey Bear balloon; Ruth Ludwig, editor of the Balloon Federation of America's periodicals; and the late Malcolm Forbes, who owned several thousand acres near Yellowstone and who brought his special shape chateau balloon to the rally.
But don't expect to find anyone dressed in a suit and tie in cowboy country.
"It's not anything fancy or special," Skidmore said.
Riverton, a town with a population of about 10,000, is on a Native American reservation, operated by the Arapaho and Sioux tribes, who give the festival their blessing.
The Riverton Rendezvous began in 1980 to commemorate the city's 75th anniversary. Today, the event runs two weeks and includes a car and cycle show, a rodeo and fireworks. The balloon festival rounds out the final weekend.
Skidmore estimates 5,000 to 6,000 people attend the event quite a crowd for a state with fewer than 500,000 people.
"It's still a very small state, a very small town and the balloonists are celebrities," Skidmore said. "It's a big deal for us."
A wayward moose even showed up during last year's rally, but most wildlife includes mule deer and antelope.
Most flights take balloonists down a valley over irrigated farm fields, with alfalfa, beans, beets, corn, wheat or barley. The valley flying usually means calm mornings with gentle landings.
Balloons can stray out beyond
the crops to badlands, where sagebrush and rattlesnakes can be found.
The annual rally is so popular, the rally committee raised money to buy two balloons of their own. One tours to promote Riverton, while the other stays in Riverton and is inflated for major events there.
But with two more balloons in Wyoming, pilots were needed to fly them. Two airplane pilots volunteered to be the first Riverton balloon pilots. One agreed to train others, including Roxie Arnold, of Cheyenne. She began training in 1990, then met Chris "2-Tall" Arnold at a balloon seminar in Denver. They were married six years later.
But like much of Wyoming, Cheyenne - at 6,100 feet above sea level - is usually too breezy in the evenings to fly.
"We can't really plan a flight here because of the wind," Arnold said. "When we want to fly, we go down to Ft. Collins or Greeley (Colorado), about 45 minutes to the south. When we plan a club flight, we have to go to Colorado."
In 1980, Nan and Tom Ourada helped start the Cheyenne Balloon Club after going for a ride in Colorado. Others shared their enthusiasm and started a balloon club, even though no one even owned a balloon in Cheyenne until 1983. In 1985, Cheyenne got its first balloon pilot.
The closest designated examiners and repair stations are still a state away, in Utah, Colorado or South Dakota.
"Now we're up to 45 active members, four balloons and six pilots," Nan said. Dues are $36 a year and include a monthly newsletter.
The group meets monthly to discuss long jump flights, the weather or crew training. They also build parade floats and provide charitable flights, but it's mainly a social club. We're well known for our partying," she said.
In Rock Springs, to the southwest, 35 balloonists typically fly at an annual rally held there the weekend prior to Riverton's. And like Riverton, evening flights are hard to come by.
"People are even surprised we have balloons here," said Carla Pivic, who crews for her husband, Bruce in Rock Springs. "But our mornings are beautiful."
Several pilots from out of state - there are fewer than a dozen active pilots in Wyoming - attend both rallies.
"A lot of them want to come to Wyoming for a vacation," Arnold said. Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, Devil's Tower National Monument and Thermopolis - home to the world's largest hot springs - are good distractions between the rallies. By the way, officials at Devil's Tower - best remembered in Close Encounters of the Third Kind - require balloons to stay well clear of the monument. And thick forests around Yellowstone would make balloon retrieval impossible, even if park officials permitted it.
Smaller rallies are held in Worland, Pine Bluff, Glendo and Cody, where pilots compete in a "steer roping" contest by attempting to toss a hoop around a skull mounted on a bail of hay.
At least one balloonist has capitalized on the beauty of the mountains. Andy Breffeilh has operated Wyoming Balloon Co. for 10 years, taking tourists for rides from Jackson Hole, next to Grand Teton National Park. He has four balloons, including a 250,000 cu. ft. system that can carry 12 passengers.
Even though he seldom lands in the park, Teton County regulates balloon operations in the area, Breffeilh said.
"Teton is a high rent environment. I guess people with their $3 million and $5 million property don't want anybody else enjoying their view," he said.
His flights are scheduled year-round, but summer is peak season, when the weather typically cooperates in the mornings. Again, afternoon flights are rare.
Breffeilh has two launch sites and usually takes off and lands on a 3,000-acre working cattle range.
"The cattle are used to us, but they don't wear diapers, so we have to watch where we put it down," he said.
Pilots can often find boxes to steer the balloons there, but they also experience "dramatic wind sheers." A typical flight will range from 1,500 to 3,000 feet and riders are treated to a view of seven mountain ranges. Typical wildlife includes moose, mule deer, elk, coyotes and falcons, Breffeilh said.
Balloon Clubs:
Cheyenne Balloon Club: Monthly meetings, crew training; $36 annual dues, includes monthly newsletter. Contact: Nan Ourada, 749 Shoshoni St., Cheyenne, WY 82009. (307) 634-1783.
Balloon Events:
Rock Springs Balloon Festival, second weekend in July. Pilots dress for a theme, such as Christmas in July, Wild West, or Beach Party. No competition other than scavenger hunts. Free parking and admission. Contact: Bruce Pivic, 321 Jade St., Rock Springs, WY 82901. (307) 382-3370.
Riverton Rendezvous and Balloon Rally: Third weekend in July, 35 balloons, $500 pole grab, $1,000 in prizes. Contact: Riverton Chamber of Commerce, Depot Building, First and Main, Riverton, WY 82501. (307) 856-4801.
Glendo Days, third weekend in June, 5 to 13 balloons, street dance, flea market, barbecue. Contact: Bob Bryant, 607 West Trosser Road, Cheyenne, WY 82007. (307) 634-6124.
Cody's Wild West Balloon Fest: second weekend August, 20 balloons, possible key grab. Contact: Kay Bessey, 1137 Salsbury Ave. Cody, WY 82414. (307) 587-4463.
Worland: Harvest Festival Car Show and Hot-Air Balloon Rally, second weekend in September, up to 10 balloons. Arts, crafts, food vendors and pie eating contest. Contact. Worland Chamber of Commerce, 120 N. 10th St. Worland, WY 82401. (307) 347-3226.
Pine Bluffs: Third weekend in September; 20 balloons. Contact: Dick Atkins. (307) 638-8017.
