The 2015 version of the Kentucky Derby Festival’s Great Balloon Race surprised many with a Friday flight due to expected bad weather on Saturday morning, it’s traditional fly date.   With winds carrying the balloons into southern Indiana in the middle of rush hour in heavy construction, the race was shortened to allow teams to be able to make it to the Balloon Glow later that evening.

Twenty of the 26 entries flew in this abbreviated format opting instead avoid having to land across the river and fight their way back to the glow.  This year’s winner went to the Curve’s balloon, one of the last two to drop their bag of Kentucky Blue Grass on the X sat down in the Crescent Hill Golf Course by this year’s hair balloon, the US Bank balloon.  The curves drop landed a little over 9′ from the center of the large X rolled out across the ground.

Later that evening, all 26 balloons gathered on the east lawn of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center to perform a late night light show for a crowd estimated at over 68,000 strong.