Balloons over Waikato celebrates 20th birthday
Balloons over Waikato will go ahead as planned this week, bringing colour to Waikato skies for its 20th year.
The festival is about celebrating community, event manager Michelle Connel said.
‘‘It’s about being with your community and engaging with your community. We need to connect together more than ever now.’’
Connel said organisers are in discussions about how they can pay respects to victims of Friday’s mosque shootings in Christchurch.
‘‘We certainly want to make sure there is some recognition of what happened on Friday.’’
Police and security teams will be present at events throughout the week, she said.
The festival’s 20th birthday is a big milestone, Connel said.
‘‘It’s become part of the fabric of living in the Waikato, it’s iconic for the region.’’
The week will feature some festival nostalgia with three wellloved shaped balloons returning from past years: Darth Vader, Betty Jean Butterfly and Resene’s Proud to be Kiwi, Connel said.
‘‘We knew these three were big favourites.’’
Darth Vader was hugely popular when he first flew in 2008 and looks particularly dramatic lit up during the Zuru Nightglow, she said. This year, the festival will run from Tuesday 19-Saturday March 23 and each day will incorporate birthday celebrations, Connel said. Every day will start off at 7am with the mass ascension of balloons at Innes Common.
Events will include a chance to share some birthday cake on the first day of festivities today, and on Thursday a WEL Energy birthday breakfast with the Chiefs rugby team.
Balloons will fly over Cambridge and Thames on Friday evening. Connel said pilots from around New Zealand and around the world have been arriving in Hamilton over the weekend and will be looking forward to participating in their own flight competitions throughout the week.
All the festivities will build up to the Zuru Nightglow, ‘‘a spectacular glow show’’ held at Waikato University between 4-9 pm, she said.
It’s the highlight of the week, with food, entertainment, music and ‘‘one of the best firework displays you will see’’, she said.
Twenty years on, hot air balloons still remain as spectacular and rare as ever, Connel said.
‘‘We like to think there’s a magical element to the event.
‘‘It’s rare to see these beautiful big things filled with hot air and off they float. It’s very much a feel good event.’’
Entry to the events is free.