4th Annual Havasu Balloon Festival Wraps Up

It took the coordination of at least 2,000 individual volunteers. Preliminary sales figures are estimated at 16,500 tickets sold. And Saturday was deemed the busiest day during the 4th Annual Havasu Balloon Festival and Fair, organizers said Monday.

“Saturday was the busiest day, Friday was the second best, and Sunday we had the most balloons (at the glow) that night,” said event spokeswoman Marquita McKnight. “We couldn’t get more perfect weather, and temperature, and wind.”

McKnight, who has been involved in all four years of the event, said she always is amazed when the large-scale event comes together.

“What’s so awesome about this is every single one of us are volunteers,” she said. “And that just makes it even more spectacular.”

THE PILOTS

Third-time event Balloonmeister Gary Moore, of Lake Havasu City, said there’s nothing better than the weather making Havasu look the best it has yet during the fourth Havasu Balloon Fest and Fair.

“There’s nothing like really good weather to make you look good,” Moore said. “That, and there was a great group of pilots who worked hard to make it a good event, all of the volunteers … we just hit it out of the park this year.”

As the Balloonmeister, Moore reported the evenings were a little iffy with the breeze with fewer pilots launching in the evening hours. Moore also reported the excellent help of boating volunteers who tied and successfully towed wind-stranded pilots floating over Lake Havasu to Spectator Point so they could return to the event’s balloon field at The Nautical Beachfront Resort’s golf course.

Another pilot landed on the California shore, and a boating volunteer assisted the pilot with packing the balloon onto the boat and ferried back across the Lake.

“We really exceeded our goals,” Moore said. “It was just a wonderful weekend.”

Saturday was the busiest day for crowds, but Sunday night was the largest turnout for the balloon glow, he said.

Local pilot Dean Baker said it was one of the better events that he has been to.

“It was fantastic,” Baker said. “This was the best year that we had. The glows were the most crowded we’ve ever seen them.”

As a pilot, Baker said he provided some rides during the morning ascension; one resulted in one of the other pilots towing him back to the Island after winds drifted him to California. Baker also turned out during the evenings for the glow events.

“It’s a pretty rigorous schedule, but we love it,” he said.

Event flight operations chairman Larry Sanders said the pilot who traveled the furthest to attend the event was from Belgium. Eight more pilots were from Canada. And the rest were from across the U.S.

“This is an international event,” Sanders said. “And this was the best one we’ve had for morning inflations and evening glows.”

THE LOGISTICS

The event had 195 vendors this year, including the art village.

There were 60 regular-shaped balloons, 10 special-shape balloons, and three corporate balloons.

Also, organizers are reporting a 30 percent increase in RV numbers. With a new RV parking option opened up at Site Six this year, 180 RVs turned up. Citywide, there were 432 that parked at designated areas at the marina and Site Six.

The local Community Emergency Response Team’s team leader Bob Mac Millan reported 30 CERT volunteers were scheduled to staff the First Aid tent during the three-day event. In all, the volunteers provided 18 treatments, most of which were minor. Friday, a woman crashed her bicycle and suffered road rash; and a boating volunteer fell on a rock on the shore while helping to tow a balloon was referred to seek further medical treatment. Saturday, an individual went down from heat exhaustion and a sinus headache and was transported to the hospital. Sunday, CERT recommended a woman with a cut finger to seek treatment at the hospital.

“It was a very successful and very safe event from our point of view,” Mac Millan said.

THE TRAFFIC

Lake Havasu City Police Sgt. Keith Huskisson confirmed the police department assigned police officers to direct traffic a few different times at McCulloch Boulevard and Beachcomber Boulevard, and at McCulloch Boulevard and Lake Havasu Avenue.

McKnight said this year three or four Lake Havasu Unified School District busses were contracted to shuttle spectators from designated parking areas. Last year, event organizers worked with the city’s Havasu Area Transit to shuttle spectators over the London Bridge. The measure opened up parking options. McKnight said the city’s service was closed Saturday, the event’s busiest day.

“We worked very closely with city, traffic, and police, because we had 20,000 people coming off the Island at one time,” McKnight said.

Other event challenges organizers have identified for next year’s event is a mainstay — the weather, McKnight said.

“Balloon pilots come and they love to fly,” she said. “And that’s so dependent on the weather.”

via – Havasu News.