The annual Autumn Aloft event will bring nearly two dozen hot air balloons to Park City this weekend.
The Autumn Aloft launch events will take place at the North 40 Fields on Saturday and Sunday morning, Misha Ross explains the day’s activities.
“The balloons launch between 8:00 and 9:00 am. We have up to two dozen balloons coming, they take off there at the North 40 Fields and then they go on their flights. Saturday evening on historic Main Street between 4th and 5th streets we typically have a candlestick event which includes eight baskets without the balloon or envelope. It gives you the opportunity to kind of peek under the hood and see how powerful those flames are. That takes place around 8:00 pm so we want it to be nice and dark, so you can see the flames. It’s one of those things that you don’t quite grasp until you see it for yourself, so we definitely recommend checking that out.”
Ross says their most common question is how someone can ride in the balloons.
“The way to get a balloon ride is to sponsor the event. I think we’re full for this year but if that’s something that you’re interested in we’re always interested in talking to sponsors. We’re also still looking for volunteers so if you want to really get in there and really understand how balloons work the volunteers actually crew the balloon and learn a lot about it. The third thing I want to mention is that balloon events are weather dependent. Just pay attention to social media and if the winds continue we’ll do our best to get the balloons off the ground, but safety is always our number one priority. If its too windy then we’ll have to make those decisions each morning, but Sunday is certainly looking good and we have our fingers crossed that the winds calm down.”
If you want to volunteer or learn more about the event you can visit the Autumn Aloft Website.
Park City Special Events Facilitator Chris Phinney tells those who want to view the balloons where to park.
“All the parking for the events on Saturday and Sunday morning will be taking place at the high school, at the Dozier field, the Eccles lot as well as the middle school lot. There will be some signage if the lots are full. We recommend not parking in the residential, park in parking lots.”
Phinney also says Main Street will also see a detour Saturday night between 4th and 5th streets. Parking rates in China Bridge and the surface lots will be the regular scheduled rates.
Phinney also previewed a few other events to look out for this weekend.
“We have our Park City Trails series that’s out at Quinn’s Junction and the Round Valley Trails that happens in the morning from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm. On Sunday we have Park Silly Market again, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm down lower Main Street. This is the second to last weekend so come on out and take advantage of that. Later in the afternoon Tour des Suds will be going on. From South City Park there will be a mountain bike race that goes to the top of Guardsman Pass. That’ll run about 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.”
