Quechee Hot Air Balloon, Craft, & Music Festival
The 41st Quechee Hot Air Balloon, Craft, & Music Festival was held on September 3-5, 2021, in Quechee, Vermont. Trevor and I hopped on the motorcycle and went for a ride! We headed for the festival on Friday, September 3rd, and we are so happy we did. What an amazing experience!
The Festival
The weather was nice, but a bit breezy. Because of this, it was questionable if the balloons would be able to take flight for the 5:30pm balloon ascension.
The gates to the festival opened at 3pm on Friday. There were all different kinds of food vendors set up. Of course, this is where we headed first!! We opted for the Gluten Free BBQ and it didn’t disappoint! There was the usual festival food as well. Things like hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries. There were also specialty carts such as a crepe cart, a grilled cheese & soup vendor, wood fired pizza, kettle corn and ice cream. We were happy with this large selection of food and everything we had to eat was great!
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Crafts & Entertainment
There were several craft artisans and commercial vendors who filled the tents and grounds with unique, fun, and beautiful products.
There was musical entertainment, a kid’s zone, skydivers, dog performances and more, and of course, the main attraction, the hot air balloons! Plenty to keep everyone at this fair entertained!
Quechee Hot Air Balloon Ascension
The balloon ascension was set to start around 5:30pm, weather and wind conditions permitting. There were balloon rides for sale, but most were sold out prior to the start of the festival. At dusk there would be the balloon glow.
By about 6pm, the sky was bright blue and the wind had died down. The Quechee hot air balloon ascension was on!! The balloon operators began unloading their vans and trucks, getting the basket out, laying out the balloon, and then filling them with hot air!! What an amazing sight it was to be watching all of this!
We had no idea how much went into preparing the balloon and the basket before a flight. The balloons are massive and heavy! It takes several people to get it laid out and then onto the basket and up in the air. We were so amazed watching the balloon pilots and their teams get it all set up. Many of the balloon pilots have been flying for over 30 years!
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One by one the balloons began to fill with air and then lift off the ground. We were able to be right on the field with them watching the whole process. We took a lot of pictures and videos, none of which can truly capture the amazing sight we were watching!
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Once all of the balloons were in the air, and I’d say there were about 15-18 of them, it would be couple hours before they were back to set up for the balloon glow.
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Quechee Hot Air Balloon Glow!
At about 9pm there were six balloons back on the field and ready for the balloon glow. The DJ played music and the balloon pilots would fill their balloons and make them glow off and on to the music. It was a lot of fun to see!
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Do you know how a balloon glows? Me either, but this is what I read:
- When the main burner of the balloon is activated, the propane goes through a level of coils that the flame passes over. This creates tremendous pressure and a very hot flame. The flame is blue in color and is used to heat the large volume of air in the fabric of the balloon which in turn gives it lift. All balloons have a back-up burner that gets propane directly from the tank. Because it does not pass over the coils, it gives a yellow glow and turns the balloon into the largest luminary you have ever seen!!
Pretty amazing if you ask me!! Trevor and I had a great time at the festival! We we were so happy to be able to be right on the field with all the balloon action.
Bucket List
Taking a ride in a hot air balloon is on our bucket list. We are hoping to take a ride somewhere out west, like New Mexico or Colorado. Therefore, we did not ride in a balloon at this festival. We look forward to the day when we can cross it off our bucket list!
Have you ever been for a ride in a hot air balloon? If not, is it on your bucket list? Leave us a message below, we’d love to hear about your experience if you rode in a balloon or have been to a hot air balloon festival!
How cool is that! I’ve never heard of this festival and now I want to see it for myself (your pictures are just so beautiful). In Laos, I went for a hot air balloon ride and it was pretty cool. Definitely, something I would do again! 🙂
Thanks Jen! This was a fun festival. I think part of what I loved was that it was fairly small, not too crowded and we could get right up close to the balloons and watch the whole process!
Beautiful photos! I too want to go to the Alburquerque balloon festival, I was hoping to this year but I think it’ll have to wait until next as all my traveling buddies are traveling elsewhere!
Thanks Carolyn! We want to go to Albuquerque too!!
Thanks Carolyn!! We are hoping to get there in the next year or two as well!!
That sounds amazing!! It’s always been on my bucketlist to go to the balloon festival in New Mexico, riding in one would be pretty amazing as well!
Thanks Kate, it was amazing!! Maybe we will get to New Mexico together! LOL
That looks like a lot of fun! And they are rather beautiful in the sky.
Hi Nina! It was a blast! We had a great time learning about hot air balloons and all that goes into setting them up and flying them!!
Oh wow this looks amazing and so much fun!
It was a lot of fun Jasmyn! We had a great time!!
The hot air balloons look so colourful! It must be an amazing event for everyone to join. I wish to ride it too in the future.
Hi Bauhinia! I hope you do get to ride in a hot air balloon one day!! It sure looks amazing!!
These photos are amazing! What a fun day.