L-R Jeff Haliczer of New Mexico’s Synchronicity, Kristophere Braden of New Mexico’s Highbiscus, and Matt and Jerry Paulsen’s Wound Up all take off Saturday morning from rotary Park for a quick flight at the Bullhead City Inaugural Balloon Festival. Photo by Kane Wickham
BULLHEAD CITY – Last weekend brought the first ever ‘Inaugural’ Hot Air Balloon Festival to Bullhead City, and it showed the appetite Bullhead has for the sportive recreation as 15 pilots and their ground and flight crews descended upon Rotary Park for the three-day festival celebrating the unique airships and those who fly them.
Literally thousands of people attended the event which started daily at sunrise with the balloons taking to the sky above Bullhead in a limited flight path that took them out and over the park making them visible to all residents for miles and drawing in throngs of people to view them in flight.
Rotary Park was packed with vendors and food trucks as well as live entertainment all weekend for the crowds that arrived daily. Performers for the festival included 50 Shadez of Rock from Ft. Mohave, Vegas and California, Rumble Seat from Kingman, and The Lorinda Leigh Band also from Kingman who played all weekend in rotating shifts keeping the crowd rocking while watching the massive dirigibles in flight and on the ground.
The daily early morning flights started at sunrise and lasted about a half hour as all the pilots too their balloons up into the sky and flew just above the park and then showed off their precision piloting ability to navigate back to their original sites amidst the traffic in the sky which is the sportive element of Hot Air Ballooning-precision flying.
In the early evening the guests were treated to the lighting of the balloons which of itself was a thrill for many. The pilots would inflate their balloons using their ‘burner’ which is a gas powered flamethrower essentially. It ignites the air within the balloons and thus inflates them. The sight of the flames going into the balloons makes for stunning sights which many people came out to film each evening.
The participants for the festival came from far and wide including Aaron Gebhart from Iowa flying ‘Double Trouble’, while most were from Arizona, New Mexico, and California. They included Matt and Jerry Paulin from Arizona flying Wound Up, Jeff Halcizer from New Mexico flying Synchronicity, Anthony Lard from New Mexico flying Iris, Kristopher Brandon from New Mexico flying Highbiscus, Kustin Griffith from New Mexico flying ‘Buckeye’, Debbie Walyman from Colorado flying ‘Sans Souci’, Patrick Irwin of Nevada representing his state flying ‘Battle Born’, Dale Wong from California flying ‘Ursa Minor’, KIm Lynch from California flying ‘Transition’, Erica Luster also from California flying ‘Illusterous’, Greg and Susan LIndsey from Arizona flying ‘Floating Awaysis’, Troy Bradley from New Mexico flying ‘Little Bit of Heaven’, Bryan Hill from Arizona flying ‘Basketcase’, and Steve Mezzancello of New Mexico flying ‘Mezzmerize’.
The balloons spanned a wide variety of colors and designs making each of them as unique as possible with no two alike, and each a stunning display unto themselves.
The event also brought out a smorgasbord of food offerings for the weekend with food and snack trucks lining the inner grounds selling everything from glazed almonds, kettle corn and corndogs to wings, waffles, and Rot Beer, offering the visitors a wide variety of choices for concessions.
Kane Wickham
