Downtown Crazy Days hosts balloon pilots

Take a walk in downtown Casper, WY on the evening of July 27 and you’ll find some of the 2013 Casper Balloon Roundup participants firing their burners. The roundup is part of a special Downtown Casper Business Association (DCBA) event hoping to draw shoppers, spectators and those looking for a bit of fun to the core of downtown. The Hot Air Balloon Festival caps off Crazy Days downtown and will bring four balloon roundup participants to Wolcott Street, where they’ll park their baskets.

Kids will be invited to operate the burners. When there is no balloon attached, operating the burner is called a “Candlestick.” Balloon enthusiasts refer to a fully lighted balloon at night, as a “Jack-O-Lantern.”

“Instead of putting up the envelopes [balloons] at night, we’ll take the baskets with their burners, light them and let kids come up and blow the burners,” said Dan Grace, Casper Balloon Roundup coordinator and safety guy.

In advance of the date, Grace anticipates that the potential for gusty winds downtown will prevent inflation of the balloons and a Jack-O-Lantern balloon glow. “This is a high plains desert climate and so we get hot, gusty winds during the day and they tend not to subside during the evening.” Grace hinted at a slight possibility that full inflation could happen, but no one could make any promises.

The Saturday evening Balloon Fest comes midway through the 2013 Casper Balloon Roundup at the Natrona County Fairgrounds. The Crazy Days sidewalk sales take place from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It’s the first time the balloon baskets will be brought onto the streets of downtown.

At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Second Street between David and Durbin Streets will be closed off, according to Peggy Brooker with the DCBA, and will offer children’s activities, food vendors, a beer garden and live music, provided by local band Flashback and John May. Wyoming Camera Outfitters plans to be on scene to take photos with the balloon baskets.

This is the second year the Casper Balloon Roundup will launch from the fairgrounds. Grace has participated in roundups across the state and was here for the first launch in 2005. He said there were four balloons launched that year, and nearly 20 are expected this year.

The Balloon Roundup begins Friday morning at the Natrona County fairgrounds. It starts with a media launch at 6 a.m. The public is welcome to observe. A second mass launch will take place at 6 a.m. Saturday, and Sunday is Kids’ Day with free tethered rides for children.

The events are free of charge and open to the public.

via Casper Journal.