UPDATE: Friday morning’s balloon launch was grounded. The next launch is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday.

LEWISTON — While recent years have delivered deflating weather that severely limited balloon launches, the weather forecast for this coming weekend’s Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival looks out of this world.

As in previous years, pilots and the balloon meister — the person who checks weather conditions before scheduled flights — are keeping wetted fingers to the wind. Launches are planned twice daily — 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., Friday through Sunday — weather-permitting, of course.

The weather is always the wildcard for the festival. In the past 10 years, not one festival had balloons rise at all six potential launches — five was the most — and for a number of years less than half the potential launches saw balloons actually rise.

But this year looks highly promising, based on current weather forecasts.

This year’s theme, “The Rise of the Balloons,” promises intergalactic thrills with “Star Wars” favorites like Darth Vader and Yoda, as well as special guest Spyder Pig and a butterfly-shaped balloon among 18 hot-air balloons expected to float above Simard-Payne Memorial Park.

Beyond ballooning, festivalgoers can expect all three days and evenings to be filled with live music, a parade, artisan markets, carnival rides, food vendors including local nonprofits, tethered balloon experiences, and surprises like medieval tents and canine aerial stunts.

Last year, the first iteration of the Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival handled by the city of Lewiston, saw only one launch — on Sunday evening, after two-and-a-half days of grounded flights, not including tethered rides.

In 2023, festivalgoers were biting their nails as Friday and Saturday came and went with no launches, but Sunday morning and evening flights were a go as perfect weather arrived.

The previous year brought five successful launches from Friday morning to Sunday morning, with the final flight scrubbed due to weather. In 2019, there was one launch; in 2018, two; in 2017, two; and in 2015, three launches.

The 2020 and 2021 festivals were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a loss for festivalgoers, nonprofits, and businesses.

The weekend’s forecast promises clear skies for the first two days, sunny highs near 82 degrees on Friday and Saturday and mostly clear nights in the 50s and 60s. Winds should stay between 5 and 10 mph, but may have gusts on Saturday up to 20 mph. There is a 40% chance of showers Sunday afternoon and evening, which could potentially complicate the day’s launches.

At a Maine Voices Live event Tuesday in Lewiston, veteran pilot Derald Young said he begins scrutinizing the weather two days before the first scheduled launch.

Young, who received his fixed-wing pilot’s license in 1970 while attending the University of Maine, said was hooked on ballooning the moment he saw his first flight in 1971. After he served as a naval flight officer, he returned to Maine and learned to fly balloons. Then, he founded Damn Yankee Balloons Inc., offering passenger flights and instruction.

In 1985, Young made history as the first hot-air balloon pilot to cross the Northumberland Strait between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, flying 13 miles over open sea before landing on the island’s towering cliffs. Since then, Young has flown over 3,000 hours in 10 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces. He still says his biggest thrill is sharing the excitement of passengers’ first flights.

Regarding weather’s effect on ballooning, he said pilots have to be particularly in tune with the wind.

“Imagine the wind current is like water running down a stream,” Young said. “As it goes down over a small waterfall, you’ll get eddies down below … as it goes around a big boulder, you might get it to curve left or right. We’re doing the same thing with the wind. If you can imagine this river of air that is slowly moving and can see it, then you’ve got it.”

Young cautioned that pilots have to watch out for dangers like hitting power lines, which is almost always fatal. He said collisions are possible, especially in less-than-ideal weather.

Speed matters more than it seems, he added.

“You say, “15 miles per hour isn’t very fast,’ but when you bring your kids past their school at 15 miles per hour and say, ‘OK, kids, it’s time to get out’? They could get hurt. Same thing with a balloon.”

Still, the joy outweighs the risk for him.

“It’s hide and seek for adults. It’s all art. There’s a little bit of science, but it’s a lot of art — I love it 99% of the time,” he said.

Nate Libby, Lewiston’s economic development director who now oversees the festival, echoed Young’s wisdom that festivalgoers should know what to expect weather-wise as launch times approach.

“It really comes down to wind. Five miles per hour is the ideal condition,” Libby said. “But even if a flight is canceled, we’ll have tethered rides, which are more affordable and easier to manage in less-than-ideal conditions for a full flight.”

He said the balloon festival is a wonderful experience even when the balloons can’t make it into the sky. And even if they can’t fly, they will almost certainly inflate for the spectacle.

For those on the ground, the weekend will be packed with other activities throughout the day and evening: live music on multiple stages, a Saturday parade through downtown Lewiston, dozens of food vendors offering fried dough to lobster rolls, a craft beer garden, artisan and maker markets, children’s games and face painting, a medieval encampment with interactive demonstrations, dog agility and aerial stunt shows, carnival rides, fireworks lighting up the Androscoggin River and the moonglow.

Libby said there will be something happening from morning until late evening each day, ensuring that even without a single launch, the park will be buzzing with color, sound and motion.

“It’s really a magical kind of feeling walking through the moonglow,” Libby said.