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Balloons pumped to fly: Festival set Sept. 19-21

By JARED DuBACH - Lifestyles Editor
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 12:07 PM PDT

Ross Andreson/Free Press File A crew member gives a thumbs up as the hot air balloon “Sushi” is inflated at Elko City Park during the start of the 2007 Ruby Mountain Balloon Festival.

ELKO - Hot air balloons from four states will dot the sky over Elko and Spring Creek when the Ruby Mountain Balloon Festival celebrates its seventh year.

The festival starts at 6 a.m. Sept. 19 at the Spring Creek Sports Complex. Donna Engdahl, president of Ruby Mountain Hot Air Inc., the event's coordinator, said the balloons won't start launching until 6:30 since that's legal sunrise. Balloons are not allowed to launch in the dark.

The event continues each day at 6 a.m. Sept. 20-21. There will be vendors at the sports complex, located off Licht Parkway. Vendors include the Kiwanis with its buckaroo breakfast 5:30-10:30 a.m., Come and Get It Kettle Corn, Java Jive Espresso, Direct TV, Got Ya Covered will sell T-shirts, mugs and other items with the 2008 balloon logo on them and the Elko Area Chamber of Commerce will sell sweatshirts and T-shirts from past years, and current year balloon pins.

The 22 pilots will have two days of competition, which Engdahl is calling “Jackrabbit and Coyote.” Engdahl said the first balloon to launch is the jackrabbit, and at some point in the pilot's flight, he or she will drop a large “x” onto the ground. It is the goal of the other pilots or “coyotes” who are chasing after the jackrabbit to each drop a sand bag as close to the center of the “x” as possible. The three winners receive gold splatters donated by Newmont.

A balloon glow with as many as eight balloons will start about 6:30 p.m. Sept. 20 in the high school band practice field at Moren Way and Country Club Drive near the Elko Convention Center.

“This year's festival is going to be lots of fun,” Engdahl said.

Before the festival, balloon pilots will be at every elementary school and some middle schools to demonstrate their balloons.

In conjunction with the balloon festival, the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association will host a fly-in show 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 20 at Elko Regional Airport. Experimental, vintage military helicopter and rescue aircraft will fly in and be on static display all day.

The public can also see radio controlled planes and take tethered hot air balloon rides with weather permitting. Breakfast is served by the association 8-11 a.m. and Civil Air Patrol will serve lunch noon-3 p.m.

For information on the balloon festival, call Engdahl at 340-7658 and for information on the fly-in, call Randy Powell at 753-5252.

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