Longest Running Balloon Festival

It was a busy weekend at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds…

The 30th annual Hot-air Balloon Festival took to the sky launching a total of 22 balloons. Chairman, Jim Nelson said, due to wind direction and speeds, the balloons were only able to fly early in the morning and later in the afternoon, which brought disappointment to many.
 

"We have this problem every year, and that is people don’t understand balloons don’t fly during the day," said Nelson. "They fly in in the morning, which no one is ever here for that, but then they fly out in the afternoon."
 

This was the case for Sean Palone, who came out to celebrate his mom’s birthday. He said, he felt let down when he didn’t get to see many balloons, once again.
 

"Well, the last time I went to a balloon festival it was kind of boring," said Palone. "Because, all you did, was go up, go down for like two seconds, you were up and then down."
 

Nelson said, they are working to improve the misunderstanding. The festival received a proclamation from the Secretary of State’s Office congratulating them on being the longest running balloon festival in the state of Ohio.