So lets make family time out of it… The weather cooperated for the Great Balloon Glow on Friday night. Around 55,000 people made their way to the Kentucky Exposition Center where dozens of hot air balloons took advantage of the dark of night to put on a light show that awed the crowd.
During the balloon glow, people can go talk to the pilots and their crew and pose for photo ops or just wander the grounds enjoying the music provided by a local radio station.
There are two types of glows the pilots participate in. During an “All Glow“, all balloons fire their propane-powered engines for 30-45 seconds causing the envelopes to illuminate in a spectacle of color. Then to change things up, there is a “Twinkle” glow, where the balloons fire short bursts from their engines creating an alternating dark and light pattern (see the video above).
Saturday morning came with the second 5 am alarm in consecutive days. First things first… Check the weather. Low ceilings and winds that would carry the balloons into the downtown sky scrapers was sufficient to cancel the event. Shortly after the balloons were set to take off, the rains came.
With the cancellation of the Great Balloon Race, the winner for the year defaults to the winner of the Friday morning commute race. This year that’s the balloon sponsored by Harbor House and the “Ken-Ducky Derby”, an event where nearly 20,000 rubber ducks, purchased as a fund raiser for the Harbor House is dumped en masse into the Ohio River.
Rain is making our trip to “Downs after Dark”, the opening night at Churchill Downs, not happen either. So it’s hanging out with family as the water falls from the sky.