Provo, UT

After attending the early morning balloon launch, we headed over to the Wolf Creek Resort, site of the 2008 Ogden Valley Balloon Festival. The festival didn’t start until 9 a.m. so to kill a little time between the launch (which ended by 8 a.m.) and the festival, we ate a picnic breakfast, then drove the short distance to Wolf Creek.

The balloon festival was very typical of most festivals, pretty much the same clothing, jewelry, handmade soap, food, and art vendors. There was a plein-air art competition being judged later that day, and also a vintage car show. For the kids, there were bounce castles, a climbing tower, and train rides on the Golden Spike Express.

One of things I noticed right off the bat was that a large portion of the terrain was very rocky. The lower level was paved, but it wasn’t stroller- or wheelchair-accessible to get to the upper booths, or to watch the bands perform. The first band up, Full Circle, was fun (and maybe too good for a 9 a.m. gig…I would have liked to see them later that evening at the night glow).

Surprisingly to me, the night glow was the biggest activity of the day, with way more attendees than the festival or the launch. There were thousands, compared with just a few hundred in the morning. During the night glow, the balloons don’t actually launch, but are inflated and stay tethered to the ground. The light from the propane burners causes the balloons to glow with spectacular colors of the envelope (I wish my camera was better at taking night shots). We arrived just before 9 p.m. as people were already leaving although a few balloons were still glowing. I found out later that people arrived around dusk, and the balloons began glowing as it got dark. I wish I’d known! I would have packed a picnic basket, arrived around 7 p.m., eaten dinner, watched the sunset, and enjoyed the band and the glow.

But the energetic bluegrass band played on for another hour, and my daughter had an absolute blast, running back and forth and dancing with tons of other kids. There was also a really nice playground with slides, swings, and climbers. When we left at 10 p.m. the traffic had all but dissipated. The perfect ending to an uplifting day!

What I would do different:
We live about an hour away, so we made two trips, one in the morning for the launch and returned in the evening for the glow. Next year I would head up on Saturday night with a picnic basket to watch the balloon glow, spend the night, and then watch the Sunday morning launch, which was my favorite part of the day.

For more information about the festival and a schedule of events, click here.