Weekend festival full of hot air

by Carol Crump
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 12:46 PM MDT

Casper skies once again will host the Central Wyoming Balloon Festival with 16-17 hot air balloons and their pilots coming to town July 26-27.

This is the fourth year that realtors from Re/Max The Group are putting together a celebration of hot air flight.

The festival is the brainchild of associate broker/owner Mike Nighswonger, assistant Chanel McCash and a small committee.

Although the event bears the name of Re/Max, there is no help for the festival from the corporation that owns its own international fleet of balloons.

“It’s really our company that puts it on,” Nighswonger said. “We’d like to see more community involvement.”

He said the balloon festival is an offshoot of the Re/Max long drive championship golf tournament that the local agency sponsored for years.

Nighswonger said that several years ago, the committee decided to “put a spin on it” by bringing one of the Re/Max hot air balloons to town for tethered rides for the kids.

That successful venture in 2004 led to what would become the Central Wyoming Balloon Festival.

“Mike and I fell in love with it,” McCash said.

In spite of concerns that Casper’s wind and weather weren’t ideal for hot air balloon flight, the first festival on the new Three Crowns Golf Course drew eight balloonists.

The summer event also drew so many spectators and created enough parking issues that the committee was encouraged to find a different venue. The festival now is held each year at Casper College on the Murane playing fields.

It started when McCash said she got on the phone and called around to balloonists, asking them to come.

Some of those pilots “took us under their wing” and helped the committee find more balloon hobbyists, as well as Colorado consultant, balloon meister Nancy Griffin and the Balloon Federation of America.

Ballooning out

With a budget of approximately $12,000, the revenue from 16 or so sponsors who pay $800 each to sponsor a balloon goes back into the festival. It helps pay pilots to bring their hot air balloons to town.

Local volunteers and sponsor representatives round out the balloon and chase car crews.

Nighswonger said the festival pays out part of the gas and travel expenses money in $2 bills as a way to build community support and awareness for the festival.

“Casper grabs a hold of them (the pilots and crews)” and some are back this year for the fourth time, he said.

High gas prices are having an impact on large and small balloon festivals around the country.

McCash said balloons require a large truck to pull them, the basket and three or four propane tanks.

This year’s festival still will bring 16 balloons to town, and most will be from Colorado.

Local pilot Dan Grace, who at the start of the venture told Nighswonger that it was crazy to try to fly a balloon with Casper’s weather, will take part for the fourth year.

High flying plans

Nighswonger and McCash, neither of whom has ever been up in a balloon, have big ideas for future festivals.

They plan to set up a 501(c)3 nonprofit to eliminate any confusion about the Re/Max parent company’s corporate support or sponsorship.

They’ve also talked about a new name that will identify the festival with Casper, and the possibility of partnering with another summer event.

They’d like more community involvement, including an affiliation with the City of Casper that would allow the festival to expand with more balloons into Mike Sedar Park.

“We’ve backed off a little this year to focus on the pilots, sponsors and volunteers. Next year is the fifth year. We’ll put the pedal to the metal and go for it,” Nighswonger said.

The Central Wyoming Balloon Festival will be held at Casper College’s Murane playing field on Saturday and Sunday, July 27-28.

Balloons start arriving on Friday. Balloon take off will be at approximately 6-6:30 a.m. each day.

There will be an on-site, free pancake breakfast sponsored by the Kiwanis on Saturday that starts at approximately take off time.

On Sunday, there will be tethered balloon rides for children from 7:30 a.m. until the balloons run out of propane, approximately 9:30 a.m.

Spectators, who Nighswonger said sometimes have the opportunity to hold a line or help with the launch, are free and welcome.

Volunteer opportunities, such as balloon crewing and chasing or general event assistance, are available.

For information, call McCash at 265-0200.

Print this story   |   Email this story