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Balloon festival an uplifting experience
My thanks go to Kim and Kent Bacon for planning and hosting the first Quincy Balloon Festival, held during Farmer-Consumer Awareness Days.
I thought the festival was an excellent addition to FCAD. It was a great opportunity for the community to experience and participate in something new.
I thought the good community turnout showed their support for the balloon festival.
I would like to relate my experience flying in one of the hot air balloons. The Post-Register, one of the sponsors of the balloon festival, was selected for a ride in a balloon.
I was privileged to be the one to take the ride.
Saturday, 5:30 p.m. – Our balloon was the last of seven to take off. I rode in “Checkmate” with pilot Tim Gale from St. Helens, Ore. Also riding with us was Jamie Holder of Ravensdale. Jaime came with Steve “Elvis” Sogura.
A Saturday morning flight had been scheduled, but strong winds prevented the balloons from flying. By noon, the wind had died down and we were able to have an afternoon flight.Riding in a hot air balloon is very different from riding in an airplane. There were two differences that really stood out to me. Hot air balloons have no seatbelts and are quiet.
As we were flying, we could hear people from another hot air balloon talking. We were also able to move freely in the basket.
The view of the Quincy Valley was beautiful. We could see Ephrata, Moses Lake and the Cascades, as well as the Quincy Valley.
We stayed pretty close to the ground for most of the ride because of thermals coming off the fields. About 10 minutes into the ride, Tim decided to land in a disced wheat field. Two other balloons had landed in this same field. This was as far as they were going. Tim mentioned that this might be a good place for us to take down our balloon as well. There was one slight detail the other pilots must have overlooked. Manure had recently been spread on the field. We decided to look for another place to take down the balloon.
6 p.m. – Tim landed the balloon again. This time, we are staying put. The chase crew arrived five minutes later. While we waited for our chase crew, our triangle-shaped basket pivoted back and forth.
Normally, Gale would have dropped the balloon envelope as soon as he landed. This would have avoided the swinging motion. But, we had landed in another plowed wheat field. This one didn’t have manure, thankfully. Still, Gale didn’t want to get his balloon dirty. So, he decided to wait for his chase crew to bring something to put on the ground before he dropped the balloon to the ground.
When the crew arrived five minutes later, Tim dropped the balloon envelope. It was unhooked from the basket and put into a cloth storage bag. Both the envelope and the basket were loaded into the trailer. Then we climbed into the chase pickup and headed back to Twins Firs.
I was able to hang out around the balloons throughout the entire festival. The pilots and their crews were very nice. Whenever they saw me, they would call me by name. We would talk like we’d known each other for a long time.
Getting to ride in the balloon made the festival all the more exciting.I’m already looking forward to next year.
— Rachal Mattson, Post-Register Writer
