Hundreds attend the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Glow event at Kin Coulee Park Saturday. Pilots lit up flamethrowers from their baskets as rain cancelled inflation of the balloons.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
All three evening flights scheduled for the Rise Up Balloon Festival between Thursday and Saturday were cancelled due to poor weather conditions, as well as the final flight on Sunday morning.
This year more than 25 balloons and their pilots travelled to Medicine Hat from across Western Canada to participate in the third annual hot air balloon festival but were only able to safely take flight three times during the event.
According to a Facebook post from the festival, weather conditions must be ‘ideal’ in order for a hot air balloon launch to take place.
“If there is any sign of a potential non-safe flight, then the launch will be cancelled,” said organizers. “These decisions will be made by the Balloon Meister and safety designates prior to each flight.”
Hot air balloons operate best at wind speeds ranging from six to 12 km/h and will not launch in winds higher than 20 km/h because strong winds can damage balloons or cause a hard landing for pilots.
Saturday night’s scheduled Balloon Glow event at Kin Coulee Park also had to be modified because it was unsafe to stand the balloons up.
Instead pilots performed a “candlestick” with the flamethrowers from their baskets for more than 100 people in attendance to illuminate the park.
Despite the rain and windy conditions the event did feature several new community events over the weekend downtown as it continues to grow, including a Rise Up Market, youth art party and a movie at the Monarch.
The annual festival also put the spotlight on Our Collective Journey, a local non-profit focused on helping individuals improve quality of life with its recovery coaching program.
Director Ryan Oscar says they began the festival to focus on mental well-being and resilience following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Building resilience in the individuals that we support through Our Collective Journey,” says Oscar. “And then inadvertently building a more resilient community because if we can start helping the individuals become more resilient and better their quality of life, inadvertently you’re getting the community to that next level of resilience.”
Rise Up looks to cover its operating costs however if any profits are made they will go toward funding a resilience coaching program offered in schools.
“That’s kind of our goal now is just to help people better their quality of life,” says Oscar.
This month has been unusually wet for the region as the city has seen a high number of low-pressure systems that have produced a total of 115.7 mm of precipitation.
