Carolina 50th Balloon Festival

18th October 2025.

Saturday morning saw us get up at some unheard of hour, made more noticeable by the sleepy grumpiness of Em - she is not a morning person and especially if not supplied with any coffee!! lol.

We arrived nice and early to park up - 6.15am!!!!! Watched the sun rise over the distant treeline whilst having our morning cuppa - Em was a much happier person afterwards. Then made our way inside the venue to watch the early morning launch of hot air balloons. Weather conditions were perfect, beautiful clear sky, a very slight breeze and plenty of spectators.

The balloons started to rise, one by one. Bright and colourful with a majestic grace that defies their size, it was wonderful to see so many different shapes, sizes and styles, all flying over our heads. Our particular favourite was "Boo".

After the morning air display we took a stroll through the many venders, looking at various different temptations - of course we had to get our customary fridge magnet to remind us of this day alongside a few other "must have" souvenirs.

Then it was back to Wanda 2 for a siesta and a bite of lunch, before heading back for the "daredevil dog show" and being enteretained with live music by various bands, all whilst sitting in the afternoon sun absorbing the vibes.

The evening balloon fly out was cancelled due to poor weather - the wind had picked up as the afternoon had progressed making it unsuitable for any evening flights, however they instead inflated the balloons tethered to the ground. As the evening went to dusk the balloons proceeded to light up the arena with an "all lights on" and "blinkers" show, which was a real sight to see whilst they maintained constant inflation.

We were then rewarded with an amazing 13 minute long 3D drone show to mark the 50th anniversary celebration and to round the evening off we sat and listened to a very engergetic Scots-Gaelic band - Albannach - as their own website states "their music isn't for the faint of heart! its aggressive, like a Celtic punch to the face!" but it was the perfect end to an amazing day!!

Thank you Carolina BalloonFest, it has been an absolutely fantastic day with some amazing memories and far too many photos and videos to show off here, as someone said to me at the event, hot air balloons are very photagenic, you can't take a bad picture!! For our first visit to a balloon event we are now hooked and will be looking to return next year.

The Carolina BalloonFest is the 2nd oldest hot air balloon festival in the country, held annually on the 3rd weekend in October in Statesville, North Carolina from Friday to Sunday for balloon competitions, mass ascensions and evening glows - subject to weather conditions. More details can be found on their website: https://www.carolinaballoonfest.com/

Check out our facebook page to see all our photos and videos of this day.