After several failed attempts in city limits, the annual Preakness Celebration Hot Air Balloon Festival will return this year to the county?s Oregon Ridge park.
Event organizers said planners have for the past four years tried to host the balloon festival downtown at Rash Field, and later Druid Hill Park. But due to the city?s skyline, wind patterns and proximity to open water, the festival never took flight ? literally.
“In Druid Hill, you have to have a direct south wind to get out of there, or you aren?t going to fly,” said Matthew Lidinsky, owner of Up Up Away Hot Air Balloon Company in Baldwin, Md. “The balloons would sit on the ground.”
Lidinsky and other event planners said balloon pilots grew discouraged with the site locations, moved after decades of launching in Oregon Ridge. More and more stopped coming, and the festival dwindled from a much-anticipated showcase of local balloonists to a corporate advertising gig. The hundreds of county residents who flocked to the 1,000-acre-plus park to see dozens of balloons shaped like polar bears and sneakers also grew thin.
This year, however, Lidinsky said 15 pilots have signed up to compete in a three-day race ? including the popular Energizer bunny balloon ? which will vie for $2,000 in prize money. Pilots are coming from Louisville, Ky., Indiana, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and include Lidinsky?s son Matt, the youngest balloon pilot in Maryland. The plan, officials said, is to revive the festival?s former hype and build for next year.
“We?re trying to recreate what we had,” said event co-chair Ron Broderick. “Where balloons can fly instead of worrying about wind direction and moving out over the Bay.”
County Executive Jim Smith, who canceled an event Thursday to announce the festival?s return to Oregon Ridge due to rain, called the move back to the park “terrific.”
“It is certainly one of the most colorful events in the region, and I hope that the county will host this event for years to come,” Smith said.
HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL
» May 18, 6:30 p.m.: Media flight launches from Oregon Ridge with TV, print and radio personalities.
» May 19, 6:30 a.m.: Competition flight launches from Oregon Ridge for local merchants who purchased ad balloons.
» May 19, dusk: Balloon Moon Glow in the Inner Harbor?s Rash Field coincides with the first Preakness celebration fireworks display.
» May 20, 6:30 a.m.: Competition flight launches from Oregon Ridge to kick-off Preakness Day
