Balloon Fest no more, Celina Record

Celina Balloon Festival will likely change format Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Jan 14, 2016 Big changes appear to be on the horizon for the annual Celina Balloon Festival. Moving forward, the event will likely no longer be primarily a hot-air balloon festival, according to Terri Ricketts, marketing director for the city of Celina. “It will be a festival that is something new that will feature balloons, a balloon glow and flying if they can, but it’s not going to be what I would call the Balloon Festival,” she explained. Although no official decisions about the festival’s fate have been made, recent discussions among city staff members and officials involved with organizing the event have included such suggestions as changing its name and theme, and possibly shifting the focus more toward musical acts and other entertainment. It has also been suggested the festival be transformed into a food-centric event, possibly to feature craft beers, a barbecue competition or a chili cook-off. “So it will be more music, more activities, other things to do,” Ricketts said. “It will keep the things that people love, which is the balloon component, but also do away with the things that people complain about, which is the focus on the balloons.” Throughout the festival’s 10-year run, the balloons – as well as rides in them and the visually stunning balloon glows that typically take place at sunset each night during the event – had been its biggest draw. “But they are also our biggest source of complaints” from attendees, Ricketts said. “People who understand ballooning understand if they fly (away), they don’t stay here – they fly somewhere else and then they are transported back for a flight again later.” Nevertheless, she said, “We’ve had people who have driven long distances (to attend the festival) and they don’t see balloons.” An even bigger issue has been the weather. In the decade that the festival has been produced, the balloons have only been successfully launched three times as a result of unfavorable conditions, Ricketts said. The most recent Balloon Festival, held in October at Old Celina Park, was one of those times. About 8,000 people attended the event. “They flew this year, and we still had complaints.” The balloons “have always been a challenge,” Ricketts said – one that also vexes organizers of other annual hot-air balloon events in Plano and Highland Village. “How many times have they actually flown? It’s not a good record.” Mayor Sean Terry understands the weather woes. He said the city has examined the meteorological issues facing the festival in an effort to get to the root of the problem. “Some balloonmeisters have told us based on where that park’s located, it’s a high probability we’ll never be able to fly consistently because of where it sits and where the wind usually is,” he said. The cost of hosting the balloonists and their equipment is also “a big expense,” Terry said. “When you get down to the actual cost of stuff, does it cost too much to keep (the festival) or not keep it? … It’s starting to build up where we get a lot of people who show up out there. Are they coming for the fireworks or the festival itself, or are they coming for the balloons? That’s what we really have to decide.” One festival-related decision that has been made was to lessen the role of the Greater Celina Chamber of Commerce in organizing the event. Chamber President Melissa Cromwell said orchestrating the Balloon Festival for several years had “kind of consumed” the organization and took time away from its work with local businesses. Instead, the city has agreed to assume the responsibility of planning the event. Cromwell will remain on the festival’s committee to assist in obtaining business sponsorships for the event, among other duties. “In order for the Chamber to move forward, we kind of had to get out of the Balloon Festival business, because all we do is plan the Balloon Festival all year long,” she said. Terry expects the City Council to begin formal discussions about the Balloon Festival’s future sometime in February. “I’m torn between do we keep the Balloon Festival or not. It’s always been a tradition to have balloons out there. Anytime you change something, you don’t know how it’s going to go over,” he said. “Personally, I would like them to keep some of the balloons out there just because I think the glow brings people out, and it’s cool.”