Festival to bring hot air balloons back

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Although details have been up in the air for a resurrection of the former Hot Air Affair balloon show, it now looks as if hot air balloons will finally be going up in the air this summer, according to event organizer Jerry Mazur.

What is now known as the Hot Air Festival will take place September 7-9 and will be co-hosted by the Van Wert County Fair Board and Van Wert County Regional Airport Authority.

The festival will include feature 15 balloons ascending from the fairgrounds and airport on all three days (four fly-outs), with balloon “glows” both Friday and Saturday evenings at the fairgrounds.

Also planned are cornhole and softball tournaments, foot races for adults and children, Old Time Indy car racing, helicopter and airplane rides, as well as balloon rides and children’s games.

For those wanting to catch their favorite college football game on Saturday, there will be an area with big-screen televisions so that local residents can watch the “game” and enjoy some cold refreshments as well.

A number of musical groups will also provide entertainment during the event, while organizers are also planning to seek a Guinness World’s Record by getting more than 2,000 people together for a huge balloon send-up.

Mazur, who already had some credibility with the success of his last local endeavor — the Festival of Flight events at the airport — first talked to members of the fair board about being sponsors of the new Hot Air Festival during a special fair board meeting February 11.

A pro forma budget created by Mazur and Ann Marshall, a fair board member and co-organizer of the event, projects revenues of approximately $80,000 for the festival, with expenses expected to be approximately $45,000. That leaves a potential profit of $35,000, which would be split four ways: 25 percent to both the fair board and airport authority, 10 percent to the smaller volunteer groups that will be helping out and the remaining 40 percent to be placed in the Airport Authority fund administered by The Van Wert County Foundation.

“It took a little arm-twisting to get everybody to realize this is a good idea,” Mazur said, adding that the fair board discussed the idea in executive session and later voted in favor of being a co-sponsor for the festival.

Among the benefits being provided by the fair board to the event would be publicity for the festival on its website, liability insurance for buildings and grounds and an aviation insurance rider, utilities, golf carts for event officials, dumpsters and trash cans, electrician and groundskeepers and manpower and equipment needed for setting up the festival (fencing, infield work, track screening, etc.).

Mazur said he expects at least 15,000 people to attend the 2012 event, which is significantly fewer than the 25,000-30,000 people who attended the Hot Air Affair during its heyday back in the 1980s and 1990s. That event, which began in 1986 under the sponsorship of the Van Wert Area Jaycees, ended in 1999.

Mazur also said he and other organizers are seeking additional sponsorships for the festival and have already gotten several pledges from local businesses and organizations.