2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Travels and adventures.
Post Reply
Skillet
Posts: 495
Joined: March 22nd, 2015, 7:45 am
Location: Northern Virginia

2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Post by Skillet »

Last weekend I went to my first balloonfest. Apparently there are a couple on the East Coast and this one was timed right for my days off. It's a 2 1/2 day event and I went on the half day of Friday and stayed all day Saturday. It was hot during the day but nice and cool at night. I stayed at a winery which was really nice and quiet. My bucket list goal is to see the Albuquerque event, since it's the world's largest, but that'll have to wait until I retire. It's a neat thing to see and I highly recommend you see one somewhere at least once.
Attachments
20171020_Chinook at Sanders Ridge Winery a.jpg
20171020_Chinook BalloonFest NC.jpg
20171020_Chinook BalloonFest NC Characters.jpg
'02 Concourse where there's always a project going on...
Skillet
Posts: 495
Joined: March 22nd, 2015, 7:45 am
Location: Northern Virginia

Re: 2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Post by Skillet »

Here's a few more. I took a ton so these are just the highlights.
Attachments
20171020_Chinook BalloonFest NC Day1.jpg
20171021_Chinook BalloonFest NC Overhead.jpg
20171021_Chinook BalloonFest NC Night.jpg
'02 Concourse where there's always a project going on...
Kirah
**Forum Contributor**
Posts: 201
Joined: November 29th, 2016, 9:06 am
Location: Houston, TX

Re: 2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Post by Kirah »

Very neat. That crab balloon cracks me up :lol:
1999 Premier, now minus all passenger side cabinets and appliances :twisted:
Skillet
Posts: 495
Joined: March 22nd, 2015, 7:45 am
Location: Northern Virginia

Re: 2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Post by Skillet »

Not a lot of unusual-shaped ones, but here's the largest balloon that was there (the dog). And another view of the crab and dog...
Attachments
20171021_Chinook BalloonFest NC Crab Pup.jpg
20171020_Chinook BalloonFest NC Big Pup.jpg
'02 Concourse where there's always a project going on...
User avatar
Blue~Go
Senior Member
Posts: 3716
Joined: July 31st, 2014, 1:01 am
Location: 1999 Concourse

Re: 2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Post by Blue~Go »

Looks fun. I haven't been to a balloon festival during the day, but I just happened to hit an evening "glow" event in northern Arizona and it was really cool! (ABQ was a couple of weeks later, so they were all probably on the way there.)
1999 Concourse
chin_k
**Forum Contributor**
Posts: 2257
Joined: June 26th, 2017, 9:38 pm
Location: Southern CA

Re: 2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Post by chin_k »

I bet if they use hydrogen, these balloons will be lighter, and be able to fly much higher and faster.... ;)

Seriously, the pictures are awesome! So colorful. I think the closest one around here is in Temecula. Maybe I will go check one out if the schedule works.
2000 Concourse dinette, on 1999 6.8L Ford E350 Triton V-10 Chassis
OldDragon
Posts: 11
Joined: November 3rd, 2017, 4:03 pm

Re: 2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Post by OldDragon »

Great pictures. I lived in NC for 10 years. didn't know there was a ballonfest.
Skillet
Posts: 495
Joined: March 22nd, 2015, 7:45 am
Location: Northern Virginia

Re: 2017 North Carolina BalloonFest

Post by Skillet »

What's neat, and I don't know how many fests these happen at, but apparently there's an international competition that's scored like NASCAR (they said). A huge grid is placed on the ground and between certain hours of the morning the competitors fly over and drop weights with streamers attached. Certain grids are worth so many points. Some guys were so good they'd come over the horizon and hover just feet off the ground to drop their streamers. If you touch the ground you're disqualified. The ones that cut it close and were minutes from the closing time sailed over at incredible speeds and dropped them from very high. One guy came over from Japan (didn't float over) to compete and the crowd gave him a great cheer when the announcer said who he was. What's so neat is how quiet everything is. Except for the sounds of the jet of hot air blasts, it's so peaceful and nice to watch them all go by.
'02 Concourse where there's always a project going on...
Post Reply