Sky high crowds

Chairman hails event

It was up, up and away as Strathaven’s popular balloon festival reached new heights with record numbers descending on John Hastie Park.

More than 20,000 people flocked to the hot air balloon spectacle on Saturday with a whopping 1000 folk turning out just for the early morning flights.

The annual event – which has been running for nearly two decades – showcases some of the most unique hot air balloons in the world.

Pilots travel from all over the UK and Europe to see the spectacular views from above Avondale.

Chairman Matthew Smith reckons a segment on STV News helped make this year’s event their biggest and best yet.

Clear skies and warm weather provided perfect flying conditions for the 17 balloonists taking part in the international fest from as far away as Belgium.

And the parachute display from The Sky Masters from Skydive Strathallan proved to be a big attraction on the day.

A downpour pulled the plug on the festivites continuing into Sunday – but with record numbers already through the door, organisers didn’t let this dampen their spirits.

Matthew said the sky’s the limit for next year’s 20th anniversary.

“This was definitely our busiest year yet,” he said. “One thousand people got out of their beds for the 6am flights and 8000 came down during the day; and there were 15,000 at the evening glow which is amazing for the size of the park.

“This festival was started in 1999 to bring trade into the town – I think we achieved that! The chip shop ran out of chips and the local Scotmid’s shelves were emptied.

“It was really, really busy because of the news report on STV but it is a free event and the only balloon festival in Scotland so it’s always going to draw people in.”

Matthew added: “The weather was terrible on Sunday – so wet and windy – so we made the decision to cancel. We never like to do this but with Saturday being so successful this was our saving grace.”

However, the spike in the number of festival-goers meant traffic chaos on the main routes into Strathaven, causing gridlock on the A726 Glasgow Road.

Matthew said: “The main issue was the traffic and parking but you’re going to expect that in a small town. It was only one day and we’ve been going for 19 years so people knew it was going to happen.

“The committee will discuss how this year’s event went at our next meeting and look at what does and doesn’t work and what needs to change.”

This was definitely our busiest year yet...