The chance to see hot air balloons flying over Vermilion County this weekend would not be possible without lots of support. The Julius W. Hegeler II Foundation is the Title Sponsor, but a lot of other area businesses, industries and individuals also serve as sponsors. And there are over 300 volunteers who work in positions ranging from crewing for the balloons to helping with parking.
Event co-chair Jim Anderson notes there will be no shuttle buses this year….
{AUDIO: ‘’That’s worked for us in years past, but part of our COVID mitigation plan which we submitted to the state – we just looked at the bus situation and the limited capacity that we would be able to transport – and it just became something which wasn’t viable. So we reverted to what I would call just an extraordinary veteran team of ‘car parkers’ who have been doing this since 1986 when balloons first came to Vermilion County.’’}
In addition to the volunteers, the City of Danville and, of course, the staff at the Vermilion Regional Airport play a huge role in the event.
(Danville Public Works employees hauled dozens of picnic tables from parks to the airport for the event.)
Steve Lane is the Superintendent of Parks and Public Property for the City of Danville….
{AUDIO: ‘’We are responsible for setting-up the grounds of the event. And that includes – I believe we run, or install, over a mile of temporary fencing. And we install all the signage, and we bring nearly every picnic table in the city park system up here. (We) just do a whole slew of things.}
Even the local Patriot Guard Riders help with the event. They placed the American Flags which line Bowman Avenue and the entrance at the Vermilion Regional Airport.
