How to go
What: MidUSA Ohio Challenge Hot Air Balloon Festival
When: July 13-15
Where: Smith Park, Middletown
Laser and fireworks shows will accompany more than 40 balloons that will fill the sky in July for the 10th anniversary of the MidUSA Ohio Challenge Hot Air Balloon Festival.
The three-day long event from July 13-15 in Smith Park features a balloon glow and music on Friday and Saturday evening from 4 to 10:30 p.m., and the competition is Saturday and Sunday morning.
The festival is celebrating the anniversary with a Laser Light show on Friday and Saturday night and the fireworks presented by Selection.com on Friday evening, said publicity manager Ann Mort.
From 1992 to 1994, hundreds of balloons flew for 10 days in Middletown during the U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championships. When skies were empty the next year after the Nationals picked a different city, residents started to wonder where all the balloons went, Mort said.
That’s when some organizers decided to bring the balloon festival to town, she said.
Now, the balloon festival brings in about $2 million to $3 million each year to Middletown, Mort said.
She said it costs about $100,000 to put on the festival attended by approximately 50,000 to 70,000 people each year - mostly those from the area, according to 2011 festival reports.
Mort said the cost is almost all paid by the 50 sponsors, including MidUSA Credit Union and the Middletown Community Foundation.
The competition — called the MidUSA Ohio Challenge — has balloon pilots in the air trying to drop bean bags on targets on the ground, steering just by the current of the wind.
Mark Frazer, a Middletown physician who is chairman of the pilot committee for the competition, has been a balloon pilot for 21 years. He said that the committee is able to bring in many expert pilots to the competition.
Balloon pilots who score well in the competition move on to further hot air balloon competitions in the country.
Frazer has been working on the festival since its very beginning, and said his favorite part is seeing the community enjoyment.
“What’s not to like about a balloon?” he said. “It just brings smiles to people’s faces. They’re colorful, pretty and some would even say romantic.”
Contact this reporter at (513)483-5236 or beena.raghavendran@coxinc.com.
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