| BALDWIN EMC |
Way up there in the wide-open air
T
hroughout spring and summer, it’s not hard to find a festival in Baldwin County. It seems like every weekend offers a chance for residents to come together in celebration of food, music, cultures and more. However, there’s only one festival that has spectators looking to the skies. The Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival, a Baldwin County tradition since 2004, will take over local skies May 4 and 5, 2018. The event draws in crowds by the thousands, who come to enjoy live entertainment, festival food, arts and crafts booths and…what are we forgetting? Hot air balloons, of course! Around 40 balloon pilots will join forces to provide quite a spectacle during the event. They’ll hail from states like Florida, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas.
6 APRIL 2018
Joining them, as she has for the past decade, will be Cheri White, who pilots the Touchstone Energy Balloon. White travels to hot air balloon festivals and exhibitions all over the country, but says the Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival is one of her very favorites because of the people and the location. If you’d like to see the balloons fly, then cast your eyes to the skies around Foley at dusk and dawn during festival days. If weather conditions are just right, you might catch a passing glimpse of a balloon flying out of or into the festival grounds at the Foley Soccer Complex on Highway 98. For a list of other festival activities and a complete schedule of events, please go to www.gulfcoastballoonfestival.com.
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