Saturday morning in Levin. And it's raining. steadily. Solidly. Suddenly we know how the Wairarapa organisers felt. Although the success of the event for balloonists did not hinge on the Nightglow, they are hugely important for the public and a way of generating revenue to cover all the work that had been done and also get the ball rolling for next year. A washout? It didn't bear thinking about.
As the day wore on (we didn't fly that morning) the rain stopped, but the wind continued. Early in the afternoon Denis was faced with making the call - pack it down or carry on. It basically got to a point where we had to carry on because everything was starting to roll anyway. As it turned out, the wind dropped we threw open the gates and waited for we didn't know what.
A few pilots flew out from the Showgrounds, the stallholders set up and the people started trickling in. The big difference with this Nightglow was that people were allowed to mingle amongst the balloons instead of being stuck miles away. We even half inflated an old 210 balloon (very large) and let people wander through it to check out what balloons actually were. Balloonists were saying the interaction was great and they were getting intelligent questions asked about their sport.
Pretty soon the trickle become a flood and as darkness fell people came through the gates in a rush. In fact we got a bit overwhelmed by it all. by 7pm the balloonists were ready to pull down, but the people were still coming through the gates. In the end we stopped charging for the last half hour or so and let people come in and check out the remains of the show. And it all turned into this big sort of party. Even after the pilots had had a meal and were heading home, people were still milling around enjoying the scene. Estimates put the crowd at 15,000. I think that was a little on the high side personally, but it wouldn't have been far short of that. A magic night.
As the day wore on (we didn't fly that morning) the rain stopped, but the wind continued. Early in the afternoon Denis was faced with making the call - pack it down or carry on. It basically got to a point where we had to carry on because everything was starting to roll anyway. As it turned out, the wind dropped we threw open the gates and waited for we didn't know what.
A few pilots flew out from the Showgrounds, the stallholders set up and the people started trickling in. The big difference with this Nightglow was that people were allowed to mingle amongst the balloons instead of being stuck miles away. We even half inflated an old 210 balloon (very large) and let people wander through it to check out what balloons actually were. Balloonists were saying the interaction was great and they were getting intelligent questions asked about their sport.
Pretty soon the trickle become a flood and as darkness fell people came through the gates in a rush. In fact we got a bit overwhelmed by it all. by 7pm the balloonists were ready to pull down, but the people were still coming through the gates. In the end we stopped charging for the last half hour or so and let people come in and check out the remains of the show. And it all turned into this big sort of party. Even after the pilots had had a meal and were heading home, people were still milling around enjoying the scene. Estimates put the crowd at 15,000. I think that was a little on the high side personally, but it wouldn't have been far short of that. A magic night.
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