Let’s cut to the chase.
While there’s plenty to do and see at the Hillsboro Balloon Festival and Fair from July 7 to 10 at Grimes Field, the title of the event begins with the word “balloon” for a reason: It’s why this thing is popular.
Sure, it’s $200 a pop to go up, but the photos accompanying this feature should tell you a lot.
“Very peaceful,” was how head pilot Ted O’Hara, speaking by phone from his home in Florida, described the feeling.
O’Hara has been flying these colorful giants for more than 35 years, after learning how to fly a plane while attending a private high school, and later earning his pilot’s license.
Although O’Hara is a soft spoken, man-of-few-words, his life is full of hot air. He takes people up five to six times per year at these fairs, in Rhode Island and New Jersey and Wisconsin. He also pilots his balloon, named the Irish Rover, at the Pittsfield Hot Air Balloon Rally.
New England’s landscape is challenging for balloonists, with its forests and hills, devoid of much flat ground. That’s why O’Hara says it’s important to “be comfortable flying in tight places,” around here. “Because of all the forests in the New England states there are not a lot of landing spots. Sometimes you might have to stay up longer than you wish because it’s very difficult to find places to land.
“Hillsboro is one of the most difficult places I fly each year,” O’Hara continued. “It’s not like the open cow pastures of upstate New York. Ninety percent of Vermont and New Hampshire have nothing but trees, and you don’t have it like New York, where you can find fields to land in.”
The festival’s track record for safety is solid since the balloons first took off there 28 years ago, according to Ginx Leiby, the chairwoman of the Hillsboro Balloon Festival and Fair, and the executive director of the town’s chamber of commerce.
Nothing major has occurred, although last year high winds during the Friday night session pushed a balloon off course and into a tree, said Leiby.
“Balloons can come down bumpy, and accidents can happen,” Leiby said. “Nothing serious here, knock on wood. Winds carried balloons to Greenfield last year, which was an hour-and-a-half trip.”
Wind, of course, is everything. As O’Hara says, “We’re just like putting a regular balloon into the air. Put a balloon in the air and see where it goes.”
Balloons rise due to hot air, which is fed into its cavernous bag, called its envelope, from a propane tank, before an on-board burner turns up the heat. The balloon descends when the air is cooled.
Trips normally last about 20 to 30 minutes, with balloons rising 1,000 to 1,500 feet and traveling four to five miles. The festival will feature five balloons in all. Once, Hillsboro attracted 10 to 15 balloons, but increased competition has cut into its stable. Stowe, Vt., for example, now has a festival that same weekend.
For those afraid of heights or balloons that float freely, the fair offers tethered rides; the balloon, attached to the ground, remains about 50 feet up and lands from the spot in which it took off. That’s $25.
Unattached balloons are accompanied by chase crews, who follow along and return the riders back to the fair, where they can eat food expected at an event like this: pizza, sausage, ice cream, donuts, hot dogs, designer hot dogs, popcorn, cheese melts. Salads will also be offered.
Leiby said many people choose to eat at downtown Hillsboro restaurants, which pumps thousands of dollars into the local economy. As few as 5,000 or 6,000 people have attended the four-day event, during the recent recession, and as many as 10,000 when the economy is sound.
The monetary benefit to the community is usually about $45,000, Leiby said, with groups like the Hillsboro Youth Athletic Association, the Hill Cat Cadets, the Deering Community Church and the local Lions Club benefiting.
Other highlights will include a 5-kilometer road race, bands, lawn tractor pulls, the firefighters’ car show, fireworks, the balloon night glow, magic shows, a presentation of curious creatures, and rides and games provided by Webster-based Miller Amusements.
Leiby said $20 bracelets, good for all rides all night Thursday and Friday, will be less expensive than buying sheets of tickets the final two nights.
The balloon rides are scheduled for Friday night at 6, and Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day, weather permitting. A basket can carry as many as eight people, although basket sizes vary.
“We look at the weather a week before,” Leiby said. “Ted O’Hara makes those decisions. It has to be under 10 miles per hour wind, and you don’t want to run into a thunderstorm. If there’s rain or thunder or lightning in the forecast, or the winds are too high, the balloons are grounded.
“Last year all the balloons went up,” Leiby continued, “and we’re hoping for all of them to go up again this year.”