Ohio Hot Air Balloon Challenge has fewer days, but lots more buzz

How to go

This year’s MidFirst Ohio Challenge may have been shortened from three days to two, but that does not mean there isn’t plenty to see at this weekend’s event.

Important changes

The full festival runs from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday, July 17, and Saturday, July 18, but there will also be balloon flights 7 to 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 19. Admission is free during those morning hours.

Parking this year will be at the Middletown Airport, Hook Field, with free shuttle service to the festival grounds at Smith Park. The airport entrance is off of Frisch’s at 1800 Germantown Road.

The cost of parking is $5 per vehicle. Walk-in admission at Smith Park is $2. Children 13 and under get in free with a paying adult. Recreational vehicle parking is $20 per vehicle per night. Limited electrical hookups are available.

The balloons

About 30 balloons are expected to fill the skies during the festival, but two of the most eye-catching will be Lily and Joey, the “Little Bee” balloons that make up the world’s only tandem flying team for balloons in a special shape.

Explaining the appeal of the special shapes, one of the bees’ pilots, Bob Romaneschi, said, “A lot of it is because it’s animated art. People always marvel when they see balloons, but when you see a 100-foot tall balloon in the shape of something, they marvel even more.”

Launches of multiple balloons will run at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with balloon glows scheduled from 9 to 9:30 both nights.

There will also be tethered balloon rides from 6:45 to 9 p.m. today and Saturday, and from 6:45 to 9 a.m. Sunday, at a cost of $10 for adults and $5 for children.

All balloon events are weather permitting.

Skydivers/other flying activities

Although the forecast calls for clear skies for the festival, high winds can keep the balloons grounded. However, the skydivers can fly in most any weather.

Team Fastrax, which has been at the challenge for about seven years now, are maintaining what works: That means a smaller jump with three to four skydivers early both evenings, at about 6 p.m., featuring a 7,500 square-foot American flag; a larger jump at about 8 p.m. with five to eight skydivers; and pyrotechnic jumps at 9:45 both evenings, said Gene Newsom, one of he team’s commanders.

Helicopter rides will be available from 8 a.m. to close each day at the airport. The cost is $35 per person, with a minimum of two people per seven- to eight-minute flight.

Entertainment/other activities

Popular regional bands will fill the air with classic rock and country tunes today and Saturday. The country-rock band Stagger Lee performs from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Three Feet Deep wraps things up with more classic rock from 7 to 10:30 that night.

There will also be a car show on Saturday at Smith Park. Registration runs from 2 to 4 p.m., with the show itself running from 4 to 8 p.m. There is a $15 registration fee. There will be awards, a split-the-pot raffle and door prizes.

From 4 to 6 p.m. today and Saturday, children can walk through a cold-air inflated balloon. Each day on the grounds there will also be a Kids Discovery Center, an Indian village and an inflatable paintball megarena.

On Saturday morning, will be the Chris Cakes pancake breakfast, running from 7 to 11 a.m. at the park. The cook, who has been featured on the Food Network and in the Guinness Book of World Records, is known for flinging flapjacks toward the customers.