Page 128 2013 Art & Balloon Festival, August 30, 2013
Special edition of LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com
El Fonz comes to the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival
For the youngsters in the group
who may not recognize the Fonz
name, a couple of decades ago
there was a popular television show
called “Happy Days.” “The Fonz”
was the cool, tough guy everyone
aspired to be like. In the show he
was the epitome of cool.
When Max and Betsy Mitchell
purchased their new balloon this
year -- a happy gray and pink
elephant with large ears and a
big trunk -- they quickly decided
that the balloon was definitely the
coolest of cool, thus naming the
elephant El Fonz.
“To us, he is the Fonz of Elephants,
because he is really cool and
everyone loves him,” the Mitchells
said.
Max Mitchell has been piloting
balloons since 1978 and has
attended every Lincoln Art &
Balloon Festival. The family has
had a variety of shaped balloons.
Most recently they flew Felix the
Cat at the festival, but in the last
couple of years they have flown
their regular globe-shaped balloon,
Travelin’ Light.
Mitchell said the family had an
opportunity to sell Felix and
decided it was a perfect opportunity
to bring another happy animal into
their balloon family. He noted that
El Fonz, with its large ears and
long trunk, is larger than Felix and
that because of its gray and pink
coloring, it is going to “glow well.”
The Mitchells have quite a
ballooning history, not only in
Logan County but in their lives on
the whole.
It was ballooning that brought
Max and Betsy together, and
on their wedding day they held
their ceremony outside with five
balloons as the backdrop.
“Ballooning also provided an
important factor in raising our
two children,” Mitchell said.
“Ballooning always made our
family work together as a team,
even when we might be in the
middle of disagreements, with
safety behind all of our actions.
“Now we have grandchildren, and
we’re having fun introducing them
to ballooning. In addition, Mitchell
said, “our son just became a new
balloon pilot. We look forward to
flying side by side with him.”
The Mitchells have participated
in several balloon events around
the country, including the “big
one” in Albuquerque, N.M. “I
have attended events in Canada
many times, Japan, Illinois, Texas,
California, Wisconsin, North
Dakota, Florida, Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky, Michigan, Iowa, New
Mexico and Arizona,” Mitchell
said. “Our best friends were
developed due to ballooning. Joan
and Brewster Parker of Logan
County Title Company asked to
sponsor our balloon during the
first balloon event in Lincoln.
Clearly, they became more than
just a sponsor, but our best friends
throughout the years.”
Mitchell and El Fonz will
participate in the launches and
glows as well as the Saturday
morning fly-in.
When asked if he had a strategy
for hitting the target, Mitchell
responded: “My only strategy is to
make a toss to the target, but often
the balloon has other thoughts and
goes in a different direction. We
will see if El Fonz and I agree to go
