This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
As is the case each year, people in charge of Pittsfield’s largest annual fundraiser are at the mercy of Mother Nature, meaning online weather charts and WMUR’s nightly forecast take on added importance this time of year.
Early reports say the sun will shine more than the rain will fall during the 41st Suncook Valley Rotary Club Hot Air Balloon Festival Aug. 4-6 at Drake Field in Pittsfield.
Things can change, of course, but even with bright sunshine, the concern listed in Balloon Festival promotional pamphlets cites the wind as the biggest potential monkey wrench threatening to cancel the best part of what is a lavishly packaged show: the balloon rides on colorful, mammoth beasts floating gently on a still day.
“Wind plays a major factor in deciding if the hot air balloons will be allowed to launch,” reads one informational website. “Even the smallest amount of wind can ground all of the hot air balloons. Whether to launch the hot air balloons or not is sometimes decided minutes before the scheduled launch of the balloons.”
The Balloon Festival brings visitors from all over the New England. This year, according to a release issued by Fallon Reed, president of the Suncook Valley Rotary Club, there will be four balloon “ascensions” through the weekend: One on Friday, two on Saturday and another on Sunday, the final day of the Balloon Rally.
Night glows will be held on Friday and Saturday once the sun goes down, turning balloons into what some have described as giant light bulbs, as the pilots burn the burner to inject liquid propane.
The Balloon Festival, staging its 41st annual event, has evolved into the No. 1 fundraising activity in Pittsfield and has greatly added to the town’s identity and reputation.
“This is a big fundraiser for them and they do a lot of good things for the town,” said Louie Houle, the former chairperson for the Balloon Festival and former director of the rotary board of Directors.
Houle said organizations like the 4H Club and the Pittsfield Youth Organization benefit from money raised at the Balloon Festival.
“There are scholarships and those sorts of things for the town,” Houle said. “It allows for town organizations to go to the field and make money and it helps the restaurants around here as well.”
Also scheduled for the weekend, wind or not, are helicopter rides, a cornhole tournament, a three-on-three basketball tournament, fireworks, a watermelon eating contest, cow chip bingo and appearances by celebrities like Suzzy the Clown and Captain Jack Sparrow.
As for the main event, Houle said he doesn’t recall the cancellation of any flights through the first 10 years of the event, which began in 1981.
“We were lucky to get them all in,” Houle said. “Even the rain might not ground them, but wind is a different story. You have to watch that.”
