Balloon Festival

Last Sunday afternoon, my friend Mary and I went to Statesville to the 35th Annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. Not having been before, I was not sure what to expect. Statesville is kind of a hick town with a small airport, so I guess I thought this was going to be some small event with maybe 3-4 balloons. When we got there, which was way out in the sticks, we were parked in a large field alongside the airport. There were no balloons in sight. Great, I thought, I'm spending $8 for a look at a couple of balloons but, hey, they probably have vendors with great "fair" food!! We brought lawn chairs, as the website suggested, and hauled them on our shoulders through the large parking lot field. Beyond the tree line at the side of the field, there was another field with food vendors, and white event tents set up all over the place. To one side was a stage...but not one balloon in sight!!!

We bought food tickets and a wrist band for the wine tasting tents. There were three local NC wineries set up so you could take your Balloon Fest etched wine glass and taste their goods. Muscadine and Scupponaug grapes are plentiful in NC, so one of the wineries had quite a few of those wines. The other two wineries had the traditional chardonney, pinot noir, etc. All were very good! We then found our way to the food vendors to check out what they had to offer. The smells made me think of the Woodstock Fair....peppers, onions, sausages all cooking and enticing you to try some. The gyros and deep friend mushrooms; traditional burgers and franks; and, of course, french fries. We found a vendor offering gyros and wraps. Their french fries--which they called butterfly fries--were made by putting the potato on the end of a rod which was attached to an electric drill. After the potato was put on the rod, a disk was placed on the end and the potato was "drilled" against the disk to produce thinly sliced potatoes (much like you would use an apple peeler attached to the table). The long trail of these sliced potatoes were put in the hot oil. They were very crispy and delicious!! We found a place to plant our chairs by the stage and began our feast. We were entertained by the "Cookie Band". The band of about six afro-american men provided music from the 60's and up. They were very, very good.

At 5:00 pm, the announcement was made that the final ascension of the balloons was about to take place. Mary and I looked around at that point, because we had not seen one balloon yet, and wondered where in the world the balloons were. Well, let me tell you, all of a sudden you began to see these amazing yards and yards of cloth began to take form. Why I didn't bring my camera with me is beyond me, so I "borrowed" these pictures off the internet, but the pictures are a true representation of what we saw. There were approximately 40-45 balloons that began to fill with hot air all along the back of the area we were sitting in. It was totally amazing. The colors were spectacular and it made you wish you were the one in the basket taking off. They were so graceful as, one by one, they lifted up in the air!!! Before you knew it, they were all gone. Mary and I both decided that this was an event to put on our calendars for next year. We found out later that on Saturday evening, they have what is called a "balloon glow" where some of the balloons are tethered and as they fill the balloon with the flames, the balloons glow!

Needless to say, this was not some hick event. It was very well organized. Most years, we found out, there are at least 50-60 balloons at the festival. If you have the opportunity to look up in your area to see if there are any hot air balloon festivals, go to it. Melissa and Andrea....your kids will be in awe as they see these balloons fill up with air and take off!!!