{"id":1777,"date":"2014-04-18T13:58:37","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T13:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/?p=1777"},"modified":"2014-04-18T14:02:15","modified_gmt":"2014-04-18T14:02:15","slug":"5-gets-you-a-hot-air-balloon-ride-in-florida-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/5-gets-you-a-hot-air-balloon-ride-in-florida-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"$5 gets you a balloon ride in Florida this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dozens of hot air balloons will float over the polo fields of suburban Lake Worth, Florida, USA this weekend, as part of a third annual fundraiser benefiting injured Marines in South Florida.<\/p>\n

The \u201cBuilt Ford Tough\u201d Polo & Balloon Festival runs Friday through Sunday at the Gulfstream Polo Club.<\/p>\n

Activities are scheduled at dawn and dusk, when wind conditions best allow the balloons to fly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real feel-good type event. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re 8 or 80, everyone loves the hot-air balloons,\u201d said Randy Russell, president of Polo America, which puts on the charity event.<\/p>\n

And by coupling the balloons with polo, the festival exposes people to the sport who might otherwise never see a match, Russell said. Matches are scheduled Friday and Saturday evenings.<\/p>\n

Friday night, festival-goers have the chance to float 100 feet into the air on a tethered balloon ride for just $5.<\/p>\n

The rides were so popular last year, organizers ran out of propane gas, Russell said. So this year, only 350 rides will be sold with tickets going on sale at 5:30 p.m., two hours before the first lift-off.<\/p>\n

Untethered rides are also available for $200 a person on Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday mornings. Rides can be reserved by calling 803-652-1181.<\/p>\n

Early each morning, festival-goers will be able to walk among the balloons as they inflate to heights of six- or seven-stories tall. Then at 7:15 a.m., weather-permitting, the balloons will rise in mass ascension, with a special ride Saturday morning for 20 Marines.<\/p>\n

All proceeds benefit the Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund, which will use the money to aid local veterans in the region, Russell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Palm Beach Post\u201d is among more than a dozen sponsors for the event.<\/p>\n

IF YOU GO<\/strong>
\nWhat:<\/strong> \u2018Built Ford Tough\u2019 Polo & Balloon Festival
\nWhen:<\/strong> 5-9 p.m. Friday, 6:30-9 a.m. and 5-10 p.m. Saturday, and 6:30-9 a.m. Sunday
\nWhere:<\/strong> Gulfstream Polo Club, 4550 Polo Road, Lake Worth, Fla.
\nAdmission:<\/strong> Free with donation to the Injured Marines Semper Fi Fund<\/p>\n

Information:<\/strong> Call 803-652-1181or log on to\u00a0www.poloamerica.com\/eventschedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via www.palmbeachpost.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dozens of hot air balloons will float over the polo fields of suburban Lake Worth, Florida, USA this weekend, as part of a third annual fundraiser benefiting injured Marines in South Florida. The \u201cBuilt Ford Tough\u201d Polo & Balloon Festival runs Friday through Sunday at the Gulfstream Polo Club. Activities are scheduled at dawn and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[1130,1134,1131,1133,1132],"class_list":["post-1777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiesta","tag-lake-worth","tag-palm-beach-post","tag-polo-balloon-festival","tag-polo-america","tag-randy-russell"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/051313-balloons-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3RIC2-sF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1777"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/balloonteam.net\/montgolfier\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}