Park becomes launching pad for aerial
display
August 2, 2008
By Holly Wagner
Area residents filtered into the park where vendors sold food and souvenirs and
white canvas tents offered shade. Some lucky visitors held tickets for a
balloon ride offered by sponsors of the Great River Balloon Rally.
"I'm excited and a little bit nervous," Danielle Zopf said. Her mother had won a ride for herself and a
friend and offered to take Zopf up for her 23rd
birthday present.
Sandi Holmes was also waiting to go up for the first time, and planned to
take her 4-year-old granddaughter.
"I've wanted to do this all my life," she said.
For those who came to watch the aerial spectacle, there were bounce houses
for the children and a beer tent for the adults. Live music performances are
offered each evening, and there is plenty of shade in
shelter houses and tents.
It looked as though threatening skies and the fact there was little wind
would ground the balloons for the first night of the three-day rally. But about
an hour behind schedule, the first of the balloons rose steadily into the air.
Without wind, the balloons would do little more than rise.
"We want to go somewhere," said Greg Saul of
The balloon pilots have a map with several sites marked on them, from a
half-mile to a mile-and-a-half from the park. At each site is a target marked
with a 40-foot X. The pilots will drop a bean bag, that carries their
identification numbers, from their balloon and will be scored on how close to
the X the bag lands.
Nanette and Clark Griffin of Fort Madison, Iowa, are in charge of the
scoring. The pair also help organize the
"When we go, it's like going to visit our friends," Nanette
Griffin said. "It's the camaraderie that I really like."
Balloons rarely land where they take off, so the balloon's ground crew
watches them and follows as best as possible in a chase car. They stay in touch
via walkie-talkies, said Tim Rainey of
Serving on a ground crew for his brother was what convinced Saul to take up
ballooning almost 20 years ago.
"I realized he was having a whole lot more fun up there than I
was," Saul said.
Balloon pilots have to be trained to FAA standards similar to airplane
pilots. They study in ground school before they go up with a certified pilot.
They have to fly at least 10 hours before they can fly solo, and balloons must
be checked every year or every 100 hours of flight. Pilots are recertified
every two years.
But the training and the investment are worth it, said Paul Schneider of
"I'm afraid of heights," he admits. But once up in the air, it's
peaceful, quiet and smooth. Occasionally voices float up as the balloons fly
over people on the ground, and the view of nature below is spectacular.
"I call it my little piece of heaven," he said.