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Balloons Over Rockbridge marked its seventh annual festival last weekend, bringing 20 hot air balloons, music and vendors to the Virginia Horse Center.
Balloons Over Rockbridge is a nonprofit organization that hosts the annual hot air balloon festival around Independence Day, raising money to donate to local charities.
“We think it went off really well,” said Dee Miriello, co-chair of the Balloons Over Rockbridge board. “We had a great crowd; we did get off a couple of flights, which is normal.”
Flights scheduled for Saturday morning and Sunday evening were cancelled due to weather.
“It’s all weather-related. A lot of people say, ‘Oh, it’s a beautiful day; why aren’t they flying?’ It’s all weather-related,” said Miriello.
“If it’s over seven miles per hour wind, they cannot fly, and seven miles per hour is not that much. It feels like a good breeze for us when we’re out there roasting.”
Miriello emphasized that safety remains the top priority for pilots. “Our group of pilots are very cautious. If there’s a concern, they will not take a chance, because safety is very important,” she said. “Safety takes precedence.”
Some Rockbridge residents saw balloons land around the area. Miriello explained that pilots are given specific instructions on places that are off-limits for landing.
“We land all over,” she said. “They were given a PowerPoint presentation about all of the red zones in the county, which are places that we are not to land,” she said.
In Rockbridge, most of those red zones are farms with livestock.
“The pilots are very aware of that issue, and are very cautious. We didn’t have, that I know of, any problems this year, with that. And we have folks that welcome us to land on their property, which is great,” said Miriello.
In addition to balloons, visitors to the festival had the chance explore a variety of vendors and live music.
“We had some really good vendors. We had some new vendors this year. They all were, for the most part, very appreciative and very happy with the business that they had,” Miriello said, estimating that between 10,000 and 12,000 people attended the festival over the two days.
The profits from last weekend will go to Friends of Natural Bridge State Park, Rockbridge Recovery, Lexington Fire and Rescue, Rockbridge County Emergency Services, Street Ransom, and the Mary Carol Moore Scholarship Fund.
“I think overall we’ve seen a lot of positive comments on Facebook and social media, Miriello said. “Our committee is very pleased.”
