http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/grovecity/stories/2009/08/19/0819grballons_ln.html?sid=104
Balloons and Tunes slated this weekend
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 4:18 PM
By EVAN BROOKS
ThisWeek Staff Writer
File photo
A scene from last year's Balloons off Broadway event.Riding in or piloting a hot-air balloon is not about getting from one place to another, said this year's Balloons and Tunes balloon meister.
"It's about the camaraderie," said Stew Gibboney.
Gibboney will coordinate the more than 30 hot-air balloon crews that will descend on Grove City this weekend for the city's redesigned three-day Balloons and Tunes event, which will be expanded from last year's Balloons off Broadway.
Balloon crews will offer opportunities for about 100 people to buy a full-fledged balloon ride.
Gibboney said those who attend will have a choice of two kinds of rides -- a tethered balloon ride that will ascend about 50 feet in the air and come back down, or an at least 45-minute joy ride on one of the 80-foot tall, floating behemoths.
He said tethered rides are $5 for each person. The longer ride will cost $175 per person.
It was just such a joy ride that Gibboney said got him hooked on ballooning nine years ago at the Big Bear Balloon Festival in Grove City.
He said he and his wife took a 15-minute ride for their anniversary.
"That 15 minutes was significant enough to capture my attention," he said. "If it hadn't been for that festival, I probably would have never gotten interested in (ballooning)."
Gibboney said he now has a commercial pilot's certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. In the eight years he's had a license, he's logged about 800 flights, he said.
He flies balloons for RE/MAX and Giant Eagle.
He said flying a balloon for hire is "just advertising," like an 80-foot-tall billboard.
"We're just flying by so people can read it," he said. "But people don't usually chase down a billboard with their cars and take pictures."
Gibboney flies the balloons part time. He's also a career pathway teacher at the South-Western Career Academy.
Ballooning is a "team sport," he said. A typical crew consists of a pilot and about four members who help with the launch, landing and maintenance of the balloon.
"Without the balloon crew, obviously, the pilot is helpless," Gibboney said.
Pilots cannot control the direction in which the balloon floats. They can control the height of the balloon in the sky to catch varying directions of wind gusts.
Pilots typically look for open fields to land and try to avoid crops, utility wires and livestock.
Gibboney said he must make sure that pilots know the best landing spots in the area.
"Most of the pilots are from out of town," he said. "If I tell them to fly, they assume there's somewhere to land."
Weather and timing play a large role in ballooning safety, he said. It can't be too windy and balloon flights should launch two hours after sunrise or two hours before sunset to avoid thermal gusts.
Balloons and Tunes was expanded this year to attract more people from outside the city," said Don Walters, city community relations officer.
"Our goal and attempt is to make it a truly regional event," he said. "And 'region' is not to be taken lightly. It'll be something that Grove City -- among other things -- will be noted for."
Event organizers have hired tribute bands covering KISS, AC/DC, Jimmy Buffet and the Blue Brothers Band. They will play on Friday and Saturday.
Local bands will play all day Sunday, Walters said.
The event also will have a children's area with an inflatable space shuttle, climbing wall, rope course and power jump.
"There'll be something to do every minute," Walters said.
Walters said about 13,000 people attended the one-day event last year. He expects about 8,000 to 10,000 to attend each day of the event this year.
"If it is that much, it'll be a success," he said "It'll be big. It'll be big."
For updated information, see www.grovecityohio.gov/events/balloons.
ebrooks@thisweeknews.com
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