Shawnee's FireLake Fireflight Balloon Festival is set to take flight

Even when surprise thundershowers have them grounded, hot air balloon pilots see the skies a little differently than most other people.

"The sky is always purple in our world," Bill Kinser said on a recent morning when wind and rain canceled a planned flight.

"That means it's always bright. It's always positive."

For the first time, the Edmond resident will be among the more than two dozen balloon pilots bringing the signature attraction to the fifth annual FireLake Fireflight Balloon Festival Friday and Saturday at Raymond Peltier Park in Shawnee.

Weather permitting, of course.

"With festivals, that's the best place to get exposed to balloons, especially if you've seen one flying across the town and and you want to be close. ... You can get right up next to them, stand right underneath the burners and look up into the balloons and watch them be inflated," he said.

"Aviation is something that you just get an experience with it and then you fall in love with it."

Free balloon festival to feature live music, children's activities and more

Along with spotlighting an array of colorful hot air balloons in the mornings and evenings, the free FireLake Fireflight Balloon Fest will feature food trucks, inflatables, a petting zoo, splash pad, carnival rides, 5K and fun run, fireworks and live music by Levi Parham, Dustin Pittsley, Mike Hosty and more.

Hosted by the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, the festival also will include a vendor market featuring variety of handcrafted wares from local artists and craftspeople, plus the Outdoor Nation Expo at nearby FireLake Arena will cater to sports and outdoor enthusiasts. 

But the main draw for the two-day event will be the balloons, which will be showcased during the morning balloon launches, tethered balloon rides and balloon glows.

"When you inflate the balloon right at dark and you turn the burner on, it lights up very much like a Christmas light on a Christmas tree," said Oklahoma City balloon pilot Michael Scott, who has participated every year in the FireLake Fireflight Balloon Fest.

"People really like the balloon glows because ... the heat of the day is pretty much gone by that point, and there's always a concert that takes place immediately after the glow."

As the Saturday headliner, country music hitmaker and Oklahoma native Bryan White will close the event in concert with Andrea Pearson.

Balloon pilots must cope with weather and other challenges

Although any outdoor event relies on a certain amount of cooperation from the weather — especially in Oklahoma — the hot air balloon aspect of the festival is particularly dependent on fair skies and light winds.

"The weather, obviously, is a huge challenge to what we do. Another challenge you have is finding people that want to get up at six o'clock in the morning and come out and maybe get to fly, maybe not, maybe watch the wind blow," Scott said.

Increasing costs and training the next generation of pilots to have the right skills are also challenges, he said.

"Flying a balloon is a skill, there's no two ways about it. You're flying a seven-story tall building full of air through the air, and you only have precise control over up and down. You can't control where you go.  So, there's a lot of challenges to flying a balloon, but it's absolutely worth it. It's 100% worth it."

Pilots relish the historic nature of hot air ballooning

Although it's now a Federal Aviation Administration-regulated practice, hot air ballooning is actually the oldest form of human flight.

The first free flight to carry humans aloft occurred on Nov. 21, 1783, in Paris, France, in a hot air balloon the Montgolfier brothers crafted out of paper and silk. (It would be another 120 years before the Wright brothers made their first airplane flight on Dec. 17, 1903.)

"When you go out for a balloon flight, you open the trailer and you pull out a hand-woven wicker basket ...  When you see a balloon, you see the hand-folded seams, the hand-stitched seams," Scott said.

"You definitely feel the the historic nature of what you're doing — and the fact that you're moving at the speed of the wind. We literally go where the wind takes us. You don't get in a balloon to fly to Kansas City for the weekend or something like that. You get into it (so) that you may only fly three or four miles — and that's the whole purpose. That's the whole joy and excitement of it."

The FireLake Fireflight Balloon Fest will bring in balloons, pilots and crews from across Oklahoma and from as far away as California, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Texas and Kansas.

"It's like a family reunion every time you get together at a balloon event — and we've been out of it for 20 years. I'm excited just to see everyone's faces again that was in it way back when," Kinser said.

Ballooning is a family tradition for many pilots

Growing up in Kentucky, Kinser's father, Pat, was a balloon pilot. When he was just 11, Kinser's dad died at age 30.

"When I was 24 years old, I wanted to follow in Dad's footsteps, and we got a balloon from my uncle. He lent it to us, and we learned to fly in the balloon in 1995. Then, I stopped flying in 1997. We had a bunch of kids, four kids ... and we had car seats and we had holsters we put the kids in and the whole thing. But it just got to be where we were flying once or twice a year. At that point, we stepped out, and we got back into ballooning just last year," said Kinser, whose wife Tiffany is his partner in flight.

"My kids remember when they were little when we were flying, but now they're grown adults. Some of them have their own children now, so grandchildren in the balloon is exciting."

Since ballooning is a team sport, it's often a family affair. Pilots need a crew to launch and land, and family members are the ones they're most likely to convince to join them in the predawn hours for a chance to fly.

"My father (Larry) was a pilot before me. My parents bought their first balloon in 1987. He had to stop flying due to some health issues in 1991. That's when I started flying," Scott said.

"I flew paid flights for many years, I flew corporately, flew around the world, all across the United States. And about 20 years ago, I decided I was done with that. I just wanted to do it for the pure joy of doing it, just the absolute joy of seeing the look on kids' faces when they see a balloon for the first time."

If people are interested in ballooning, Kinser encouraged them to attend this weekend's festival, talk with local pilots and see if they need volunteers for their crew.

"It's kind of like you're a bird. There's no sound, other than the occasional roar of the burner. ... It's just a really unique experience. And when you do get a part of that, people just enjoy being around it," he said.

"We always fly when conditions are perfect, and so everyone's happy. It's not like in a thunderstorm or in the middle of the winter when there's 12 inches of snow on the ground. It's beautiful, sunny day, and everyone's outside enjoying the day — and we're flying."

FIRELAKE FIREFLIGHT BALLOON FEST

When: Friday and Saturday.

Where: Raymond Peltier Park, 1702 S Gordon Cooper Drive in Shawnee.

Admission: Free.

Information: https://www.firelakeballoonfest.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma pilots set to soar at FireLake Fireflight Balloon Festival