Countdown to Balloons Over Vermilion Includes Thurs SPLASH-N-DASH; (Click for Fri-Sat Schedule)

As Vermilion County gets ready for Friday and Saturday’s BALLOONS OVER VERMILION at Vermilion Regional Airport, one question remaining is will the weather allow for a traditional preliminary event on Thursday evening.  The SPLASH -N-DASH, put on by the Danville Boat Club, is where about ten balloons, many coming in for the weekend event, compete in a contest to hit a target in Lake Vermilion in front of the Danville Boat Club.

Larry Owen, who pilots the “Jolly Rollo” balloon, recently joined Tommy B on D102’s THE BIG SHOW.  And he admitted that the interesting thing about competing in the SPLASH-N-DASH is when you first approach the lake, things can get quite interesting.

AUDIO: It’s going to be straight out from the Boat Club, out in the middle of the lake.  The Boat Club is what’s putting this on for Thursday night.  So as we come into the lake, you know you don’t see anything, until all of a sudden you get there.  But you see all these other boats out there.  There may be another hundred boats out there.  And you think, “Oh my gosh, where am I going?”

Doors open at the Danville Boat Club at 4:30 Thursday evening.

As for the two days of Balloons Over Vermilion at Vermilion Regional Airport, Airport Manager Alex Gale also recently joined Tommy B.  She said, in addition to the challenge of keeping the airport active during this event; there is also the wonderful benefit of showing all the visitors what the airport has.

AUDIO: We love it.  Again, it’s such an exciting opportunity for everybody in the community to see all the aviation that we have, all locally.  So, still an active airport, we actually have three runways; two of them are closed, the main long runway stays open.  And we work with local pilots, and we put notifications out to the flying community; so they have a heads-up of what the airport’s going to look like.

BALLOONS OVER VERMILION is set for 3 PM to 11 PM Friday, and 1 PM to 11 PM Saturday.