Panguitch Balloon Festival: Balloons Off the Front Steps
June 27 thru June 30, 2024
The Town of Panguitch Utah puts on a flurry of activities at the end of June and first of July that are truly fantastic. One of these truly fantastic adventures that they offer is the balloon festival. With us working at the RV park we got to have firsthand fun, not only with the balloon fiesta itself, but also with the people that were showing up for it. Prior to the beginning of the balloon, fiesta, we had a dinner which Beth created to enjoy as well as to get to know what was expected of us with all of the rigs that would be coming in. On our first day of rigs coming in here at the park, it was all hands-on deck to try and keep up with everyone as well as get all the RV's parked. It went amazingly well.
The Saturday Night Glow
The day the festival got under way we were able to watch the ballons after they launched right from our front steps of our trailer. There was no shortage of things to do. Between visiting with all the new arrivals at the park to fixing electrical problems it was a busy but enjoyable time. The glow on Saturday evening was held on Main and Central Street. The town got a permit to be able to close Hwy. 89 for the evening and reroute traffic down city streets. There were also vendors at the glow plus during the afternoon with food as well as "stuff" to buy. Friday night we had a street dance here at the park. Good music, lots of fun.
June 27: Today started off, kind of cloudy, but here at 8:45 AM the sun is out and shining brightly. Looks like it will be a good day for parking all the rigs that are coming in today. All the rigs were easily parked without any issues, which showed the good planning that Ed and Beth did prior to today paid off with big dividends. Beth made supper for all of us which was Israel type cuisine and it was very tasty, as part of the Panguitch Balloon Festival plans.The final activity for a fun filled busy day was a band that Ed hired which were very good and we had a nice crowd plus everybody seemed to enjoy it.
June 28: This was the first day of the Panguitch Balloon Festival so we watched them go over the park this morning without having to go to the launch site.
June 29: Today is the 2nd day of the Panguitch Balloon Festival and once again watched them go over the park. The glow was out on the main street with bands playing at 3 different locations along main street. Caroline was here and landed her balloon this morning across the street at the Family Dollar store and everyone seemed to enjoy watching her breakdown the balloon. We managed to catch her at the glow and helped her get the balloon down when the wind kicked up.
June 30: Today was the last day of the balloon festival and due to the wind they were not able to fly. Folks at Henries got packed up and headed home so by evening the park was pretty empty.