{"id":28553,"date":"2012-09-06T06:47:58","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T11:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=28553"},"modified":"2012-09-07T06:52:29","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T11:52:29","slug":"hot-air-festival-brings-lots-of-balloons-events-to-vw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/09\/06\/hot-air-festival-brings-lots-of-balloons-events-to-vw\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Air Festival brings balloons to VW"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A balloon launch at a Missouri balloon festival. (photo courtesy of Joe DeShon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nothing to do now that the Van Wert County Fair is over? That will change soon as the Van Wert Hot Air Festival begins Friday.<\/p>\n

The renascence of the former Hot Air Affair includes, of course, hot air balloon rides and related events, including balloon \u201cglows\u201d held at night to show off the beauty of propane-fueled aircraft.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event includes 18 balloons overseen by Balloonmeister Wes Dickerson, who has 32 years of experience and 650 hours of flight time as a balloon pilot. The balloonists are mostly from Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, but come from as far away as North Carolina and Arizona.<\/p>\n

The gates will open for the event at 4 p.m. this Friday at the fairgrounds, with pony rides and other children\u2019s activities, various vendors, a train display (Commercial Building), crafts and garage sales (Commercial Building), adult refreshments, open helicopter rides, trackless train rides, a petting zoo, a display by Chapter 6 of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group honoring veterans and MIA\/POWs among the activities.<\/p>\n

There will also be a spaghetti supper sponsored by the Peony Festival Committee in the 40 et 8 Chicken Shack, starting at 5:30 Friday evening, and a flag-bearing parachute jumper in front of the grandstand at 5:45, while with the first balloon launch of the festival will start at 6.<\/p>\n

Balloon rides will also be held, both distant and tethered, from 6-10 p.m. A Plein Aire Paint Out hosted by Wassenberg Art Center also begins at 6 Friday evening.<\/p>\n

Todd Allen Herendeen will be in concert from 7-9:30 p.m. Friday in front of the grandstand (no admission fee), while Thunderstruck DJ will entertain in the adult refreshment pavilion from 8 p.m.-midnight. A balloon glow will take place, starting at 8 Friday evening in front of the grandstand.<\/p>\n

Things get really going on Saturday, with a continental breakfast held at the 40 et 8 Chicken Shack, starting at 6 a.m., while a balloon launch will be held at 7 a.m. in front of the grandstand.<\/p>\n

A pancake breakfast and fly-in will be held from 7-10 a.m. at the Van Wert County Regional Airport, while there will also be a display of airplanes, helicopters and a gyrocopter at the airport from 7 a.m.-1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Craft and garage sales will open at the fairgrounds, beginning at 8 Saturday morning, along with the train display and there will be open registration for children\u2019s hot air balloon rides at 8 a.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

Starting at 9 a.m., there will be a number of children\u2019s activities, including pony rides, a petting zoo and trackless train rides at the fairground, while a softball tournament will begin at 9:15 a.m. at Smiley Park, across from the airport.<\/p>\n

The official opening ceremony will be held at 9:15 a.m. Saturday in front of the grandstand, with Samantha and Janel Duquette singing \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d<\/p>\n

A children\u2019s balloon launch is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, while there will be a Roush Fenway Racing Display at the fairgrounds from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. A Cornhole tournament will begin at 11 a.m., along with a Shooting Stars 4-H Club rifle range and firearm safety event in the Junior Fair Building.<\/p>\n

Football games will be broadcast on four big-screen televisions in the Adult Refreshment Pavilion, starting at noon, while a Cruise-In will be held on the fairgrounds from noon-6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Dancers from Kim Hohman\u2019s DanceWorks will perform from noon-12:45 p.m., with the Plein Aire judging at 12:45 Saturday afternoon and a Hearts in Motion Baton, Dance and Cheer event will take place from 1-1:45 p.m.<\/p>\n

A balloon sculpture event will run from 1-5 p.m., while the Scottish Pipes & Drum Corps from Fort Wayne, Ind., will perform from 1:30-4:30 p.m. at the fairgrounds. There will be a coloring display from 3 p.m. and a barbecue dinner served by the Van Wert Professional Firefighters Association from 4-7 p.m. at the 40 et 8 Chicken Shack.<\/p>\n

A balloon launch is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday in front of the grandstand, with distant and tethered balloon rides available as well.<\/p>\n

Wally and the Beavs will perform from 7-9:15 p.m. in front of the grandstand, while Thunderstruck DJ will again entertain in the Adult Refreshment Pavilion from 8 p.m.-midnight.<\/p>\n

A balloon glow will take place at 8:15 Saturday evening, with a Parade of Lights planned for 9:20 p.m. and a theatrical fireworks display to take place at midnight.<\/p>\n

The final balloon launch will take place at 7 a.m. Sunday, with a continental breakfast will be served at 8 Sunday morning at the 40 et 8 Chicken Shack. A non-denominational church service featuring gospel music from area singing groups will be held at 9 a.m. in front of the grandstand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Nothing to do now that the Van Wert County Fair is over? That will change soon as the Van Wert Hot Air Festival begins Friday. The renascence of the former Hot Air Affair includes, of course, hot air balloon rides and related events, including balloon \u201cglows\u201d held at night to show off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-27 21:30:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}