ABOVE: A display during the Friday night professional drones show marks 10 years of Balloons Over Vermilion’s contributions to organizations helping kids. (PHOTO BY TOMMY B)
Balloons Over Vermilion’s first year at Kennekuk County Park is now history. And although Mother Nature prevented the balloons from flying, as well as the balloon glows from happening; what they were able to do at the end of the evening Friday night was the hit of the weekend. Speaking with Ridge Farm’s Mike Hanes with his family on Saturday, CIMG was told that just being able to see the torch lights in the balloon baskets up close, followed by an amazing professional drone show, was perfect for his kids and all the others there.
AUDIO: Last night’s show was absolutely excellent. They lines all the baskets up right down the front row, and it was a great show. The kids absolutely loved it last night. And the drone show was really good two.
Saturday’s session brought out familiar BOV size crowds doing everything from eating to watching the kids participate in everything from making bubbles to ziplining. In fact, all ages were ziplining. And Jeremy Rotelski told CIMG, BOV at Kennekuk gets a thumbs up.
AUDIO: This is good. It looks like they have some new events set up for the kids. They’ve got a pretty nice company over there; with some, what they call extreme sports for the kids. So, it’s a lot better than just having the basic carnival rides.
As far as why the wind is so temperamental when it comes to ballooning, pilot Brent Chism explained that it’s not just about the winds way up high. It’s also about conditions right on the ground when you first inflate the balloon, and at the treetops when you’re trying to stand the balloon up for takeoff.
AUDIO: When we have faster winds on the ground it pushes the balloon back and forth sideways, so we can never get it full inflated to be able to stand up in the first place. And then if you have high winds right at the treetops, we can never get the balloon stood all the way up, and we can never even be able to take off. And that’s what people don’t see, is the winds right at the tops of the trees.
Saturday’s crowd stayed through all the music and activities and food; until rain and lightning drove much of the crowd away between 8 and 9 PM.
