Arkansas Valley Balloon Festival 2019

Description: The Arkansas Valley Balloon Festival is held in Rocky Ford on the first weekend of November.

The 2019 Arkansas Valley Balloon Festival

The Balloon Festival is a long-running annual event in Rocky Ford Colorado thanks to the outstanding long-term efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers.

The Balloon Festival is held at Innovative Water Technologies in Rocky Ford. The event has grown as their new venue allows space for plenty more balloons.

Part of the fun is watching the pilots and their crews prepare for lift off. Some of my favorite pictures over the years have been of the balloons still on the ground morphing through wrinkled shapes to eventually become floating dots in the distance.

The event brings a crowd of balloonists from around the region, many of the pilots and their crews are from Colorado Springs and New Mexico.

The balloons are an expensive hobby that brings extreme joy and satisfaction. Having been lucky enough to serve on a crew and go for a ride, I can tell you it is cold, rewarding work, and no one in the basket has a bigger grin than the pilot.

One balloon launches, another begins prepping to launch.

Chase crews have an exciting day too, on a good flight the balloon lands in an empty field.

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