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2016 Lincoln Balloon Fest
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS
August 30, 2016
T
wenty eight - that’s the number of year’s
the Lincoln Balloon Festival has been
going and growing.
From its humble beginnings of a few balloons
setup to draw people into downtown during
the annual Lincoln Art Fair, the festival has
outgrown several sites to become one of the
largest and best attended balloon fests in the
Midwest, and it has a farther reaching good
reputation with balloonists.
Moving to the Logan County Airport in 2005,
the expansive grounds made provision for a
multitude of ever-changing family friendly
activities and entertainment. Plenty of vendors
with delicious food line the entry taxiway. A
stage on the opposite end of the grounds hosts
afternoon and late evening live bands enjoyed by
young adults. And the venue permits close-up
parking to all activities in one location.
The festival’s diversity provides enough
alternatives that even when the weather intrudes
on the main feature, hot air balloons, those
attending can still have a pleasurable and
satisfying experience.
The festival’s continued success can largely be
attributed to its organizers who begin a critical
review right after each year’s event and begin
right away planning how to make the next better.
Work goes on all year.
It is also the volunteers, hundreds during the
event, who make it a success. Many commit
a precious few hours of their time to assist
in preparations, manning the grounds, or
in cleanup; some are there all day each day
performing various tasks.
And there are a number of extraordinary
individuals who dedicate themselves as
volunteers to making it all happen. They spend
extra long days setting up. They are there at all
hours during, and come back afterward for the
clean up; and they do it year after year, happily if
you don’t happen to ask them past their point of
exhaustion.
Continued
tt
2016 Balloon Festival another
great memory because..
.
Several pilots landed their balloons at the far south end of the airport near the National Weather
Service campus. Photo by Jan Youngquist