Wild weather pops balloon festival

A Horowhenua flying festival has been cancelled this weekend due to inclement weather.

Organisers of the Lift Off Levin hot air balloon fiesta in New Zealand were forced to ground the event after wild winds and heavy rain made flying and landing the balloons too difficult.

This year 12 balloonists from around New Zealand were confirmed for the four-day festival, with five arriving yesterday to take part.

But flight director Denis Hall said there was no option but to cancel. “It was pretty clear that the weather was not going to come right even though we were living in hope that it would.”

A combination of Easter weekend being later in the year, and closer to winter, along with the remnants of cyclone Ita blowing over from Australia, made the running of the event too tricky, Hall said.

“We are disappointed, but it was the realistic thing to do and I’m not losing any sleep over it because weather is just something you just can’t control,”

“We’ve had ridiculously good luck with the weather for the last eight years and in that time we have managed to do more flying here than the other two balloon events in New Zealand combined, and when I tell that to people they think I’m talking through a hole in my head but it’s true, Levin is a great place for this kind of festival.”

The Levin Hot Air Balloon Committee, which has incurred costs due to the cancellation, thanked sponsors for their support.

“Everybody’s still happy and people have been really understanding, thankfully.”

The event has been cancelled once before, in 2012, because of a shortage of funding and the committee was looking at taking the same step this year but a “generous donation” from Levin woman Helen Blake allowed the organising team to reconsider.

via Stuff.co.nz.