Within the sunrises and sunsets of late summer, the skies of central Aroostook County will soon be dotted with splashes of color during Presque Isle’s annual Crown of Maine Balloon Festival.
The hot air balloon festival, which runs from Aug. 22 to 24 at the Northern Maine Fair Grounds, is a three-day event that attracts patrons and hot air balloon pilots from across the U.S. and over the Canadian border.
“Hot air balloons are magical, whether you are three years old and you’re seeing one for the first time or you’re 70 years old and sitting on your deck drinking coffee and one flies overhead,” festival committee chair Jordyn Madore said. “It is just a really special thing that not a lot of communities can provide to their residents.”
Thirteen balloons, including two new entrants, will take part in the annual festivity, known for its twice-daily mass ascensions and “moon glow,” where balloons light up the fairground at dusk.
The event is free to attend, but attendees can pay $20 on a first-come, first-serve basis for tethered balloon rides that rise about 40 feet off the ground.
Non-tethered, free flights went on sale on Aug. 1 and sold out by Aug. 13.
Other happenings at the festival include a craft and vendor fair, a pancake breakfast and a 5K road race, dubbed “The Great TFG Balloon Chase,” during Sunday’s mass ascension.
New to this year’s festival is a full day of events on Sunday, including a corn hole tournament and a community music festival with both band and acoustic stages. It’s a fresh approach to live music at the weekend event, and one Madore hopes to be able to expand in the future.
“We had a new committee member join this year who’s actually in a band, and music is something he’s really passionate about, so we let him take it and run with it,” Madore said.
The festival will also host a “Human Foosball Tournament” on Saturday. The life-sized version of the famous table-top game will be put on by the Central Aroostook Association — an organization that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities — as a fundraiser for Special Olympics Aroostook.
Through in-kind material donations, sponsorships and 18 team registrations, the event has already raised $17,000 for Special Olympics, Carl Michaud, COO of the Central Aroostook Association, said.
“There’s been a great amount of interest, but also a little bit of uncertainty, like ‘What the hell is this,’” Michaud said. “But I think when people see this on Saturday, they’ll be saying ‘I want to do this next year.’”
The festival wraps up Sunday evening with a fireworks display, a new addition to the event that Madore said is a part of the committee’s effort to grow and provide “a lot of different offerings.”
Both Madore and Michaud encouraged the community to come to the fairgrounds this weekend, whether to check out new additions to the festival or to enjoy the “magical” balloon views that make it a local hit every summer.
“I’m a volunteer at heart,” Madore said. “I do a lot of different things for the community, but this one is my favorite because you get to see people’s eyes get big and [they are] surprised and everybody’s having fun. It’s just such a positive experience.”
