Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
The 50th annual Adirondack Balloon Festival — taking place Sept. 21-25 — will include a pre-festival Wednesday cocktail party at Hiland Park; a Thursday parade from downtown Glens Falls to the opening launch in Crandall Park; and a “record” number of special shapes, organizers said.
The festival was founded in 1972 by Walter Grishkot and was long run by the exuberant Mr. Grishkot and his wife Joan until their deaths in 2011 and 2021, respectively.
Mark Donahue is president of the Balloon Festival Board of Directors since Mr. Grishkot’s passing. Specifics of the milestone year were announced Monday by Balloon Fest board members Erin Reid Coker and Chuck Aiken via Facebook Live.
New this year, the pre-festival Cocktail Reception and Moonglow glow open to the public, a Thursday parade from downtown Glens Falls to the first launch in Crandall Park and a “record” number of special shaped balloons, organizers said.
The festival was founded in 1972 by Walter Grishkot and was long run by the exuberant Mr. Grishkot and his wife Joan until their deaths in 2011 and 2021, respectively.
Mark Donahue is president of the Balloon Festival Board of Directors since Mr. Grishkot’s passing.
Specifics of the milestone year were announced Monday by Balloon Fest board members Erin Reid Coker and Chuck Aiken via Facebook Live.
New this year, the pre-festival Cocktail Reception and Moonglow with as many as 20 balloons will take place at Hiland Park Country Club on Wednesday, Sept. 20.
Details: Tickets will cost $40. TV 13 News Anchor Mark Mulholland will emcee. Music will be by Rich Ortiz. Balloon Fest artist Lynn Benevento will unveil a commemorative anniversary painting.
Tickets will be available “soon,” on the website, they said.
Everything else, still 100% free
The traditional Balloon Festival — “still 100% free,” they note — runs Thursday to Sunday, Sept. 21 to 24, with events mainly at Warren County’s Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury, and in Crandall Park, Glens Falls.
They said they expect least 70 hot air balloons, as well as “a record number of special shapes.” They expressed hope for as many as 99 balloons altogether.
Thursday: Parade, Crandall
Thursday, Sept. 21, will kick off with a 50th anniversary parade at 4 p.m. from downtown to Crandall Park, pending state approval, they said.
The City of Glens Falls plans to hold its annual Balloon Festival Party in Crandall Park, instead of downtown, Messrs. Coker and Aiken said.
The opening ceremony at 5 p.m. will be followed by a flight of up to 10 hot air balloons — including the special shape Birthday Cake balloon (weather permitting). Some balloons may remain after dark for tethered night glows during the party, the organizers said.
Popular Celtic-Americana-rock band The McKrells will play during the opening launch from 4 to 6 p.m., followed by Capital Region party band The Refrigerators. There will be food vendors on site, and sales of official Balloon Festival clothing, pins, programs and other items.
Friday: At the Airport
Activities move to Warren County Airport Friday afternoon, with the full field of hot air balloons and special shapes expected, they said. Music will be by Pluck & Rail, a nationally touring prog-rock and folkabilly string band led by Andrew Sussman on cello and George Gierer on banjo. Gates will open at 3 p.m. Food vendors, children’s activities, community displays and Zonta’s Balloon Craft Show.
Saturday at Airport: ‘Dawn Patrol’
Saturday morning will open with a new “Dawn Patrol” launch at approximately 5:45 a.m. Weather permitting, between five and 10 balloons will take off in the dark prior to the actual balloon launch, for what Messrs. Coker and Aiken described as “a Moonglow in the air.”
The regular flight of 70+ balloons and special shapes will occur around 6:45 or 7 a.m, depending on weather.
Gates open “dark and early,” at 4:30 a.m. they said. As always, plan your arrival to avoid being stuck on the tarmac or in line when the balloons launch. Festivities continue all day on the tarmac.
The evening launch at about 5:30 p.m. will feature half the balloons flying and half staying for the Moonglow at 8 p.m.
Music headliner on Saturday is the Ryan Montbleau Band of Burlington, Vt., in the final concert of their current Northeast U.S. tour. “We couldn’t afford Air Supply,” Mr. Coker said — referring to a festival half-joke, half-serious anniversary idea for many years. “They were like $45,000,” Mr. Coker said, “but to be honest with you, I don’t want Air Supply.”
Mr. Montbleau himself remembers coming to the Balloon Festival “now and again” as a child, Mr. Aiken said.
Also on Saturday, local blues-bluegrass duo Orion Kribs and Keanen Stark.
Sunday: ‘Mass flight,’ no Crandall
Sunday morning at the airport will be the traditional “Mass Ascension,” in memory of Walter Griskot, when all the balloonists attempt to take off simultaneously.
There is no scheduled Sunday afternoon event, typically held back in Crandall Park, they said.
Logo, breakfast…
More notes:
This year’s festival has three official logos, all designed by local artist Lisa Lehman — two in gold for the 50th anniversary, and one that’s multi-color.
Sold out: VIP parking passes are already sold out, they said.
No word yet, they said, on whether there will be the traditional balloon breakfast, typically held in an airport hangar Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Volunteers are very much needed, particularly to help crew the special shape balloons. Training is provided.
Food vendor applications are still open.
Craft vendors should go through Zonta which organizes the festival show. See the Official Adirondack Balloon Festival Website for the link.
Past and present Balloon Festival pilots will be profiled in a forthcoming 50th Anniversary Pilot Memoir book, organized by Amy LaPoint.
Adirondack is now the third largest Balloon Fest in the nation, Mr. Donahue wrote in a press release, behind only Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Reno, Nevada.
The anniversary year schedule was in the works for “at least five years,” Mr. Donahue said in a press release Tuesday.
Details & schedule at adirondackballoonfest.org, and Balloon Fest Facebook.
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