LEWISTON — Birds were the only thing flying in the sky over Lewiston and Auburn on Friday morning, much to the chagrin of eager hot air balloon ticket holders on the first day of this year’s Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival.
The sky was clear, the air felt nice but the wind proved too much for safely launching the balloons Friday morning, according to balloon meister Bruce Byberg. When festival staff released the black latex balloon that indicated the conditions above Simard-Payne Memorial Park, it took off in a fast southerly direction as soon as it got above tree level.
Even an 8- to 10-mile-per-hour wind can be too much to launch, he said. The wind Friday morning exceeded that. Windy conditions can also make landing difficult, giving operators less time to land in open areas when the balloons are traveling fast.
Byberg is hopeful conditions will improve for the evening flight, likely taking off at 6 p.m. and landing by 7:30 p.m., he said. Festival staff said they would reschedule rides over the weekend if they could or offer refunds to those who could not stay the whole weekend or whose ride could not be rescheduled.
Tim Riendeau of Topsham has come to every single balloon festival in the 26 years he’s been alive and was able to go up once in 2016, he said. He and his girlfriend, Sarah Lent, were supposed to go for a ride Friday morning — her first time in a balloon.
Though they were disappointed by the cancellation, they are committed to spending the weekend at the festival in hopes their ride could be rescheduled.
Hot air balloons have been an interest of Riendeau’s for most of his life, and he admitted he’d like to learn how to fly one someday. The shapes, the colors, the characters — he enjoys seeing all the balloons. The couple also attend a balloon festival in Vermont.
It was Barbara Chatametikool’s first time attending the balloon festival. She had never heard of the festival until she saw an advertisement for it and decided on a whim to extend her vacation a few days before heading back to her home in Alabama to catch a balloon ride Friday morning, she said.
She has family who live in the area, and usually she comes up every year to visit them, she said. But typically she is back home by now starting a new school year teaching students because school starts earlier in the South. Taking a break from working this year allowed her to make the spur-of-the-moment decision.
Disappointed her ride was canceled, she will stay until Saturday morning to see if she can get it rescheduled before driving back home, she said. She hopes to at least see some of the balloons inflated.
“I’m hoping that they’ll at least maybe not fly a balloon but blow one up,” she said. “So that’s probably my biggest thing, I just want to see one.”
Sarah Gillespie of Lewiston comes out to the festival every year. She and her son, Luke Johnson, 7, like to watch the balloons take off, she said. Luke has been to every festival since he was born.
She feels like more than half the time at the event the balloons never make it off the ground, such was the case last year.
Cancellations are also frustrating for pilots and staff who have traveled from out of state to participate in the festival, Byberg said. But if the weather isn’t right, it’s not safe to lift people in the air. He said he’s hopeful conditions will be better later.
“We’re just as frustrated as they are,” he said. “We came to put on a show and we want to fly, but we can’t control the weather.”
Gillespie enjoys the morning liftoffs the most because it is quieter than the evening launches and there are fewer people, but she and Luke will probably still watch the evening balloon launches, she said. They’re a chance for her to also see friends and neighbors.
She took a balloon ride once at the Presque Isle festival and enjoyed being able to see things from a different perspective, she said. At first she wondered how the balloon was going to lift her and the basket, but when she got up into the air she enjoyed just floating for about an hour.
“It’s fantastic,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to describe but it just gives you a different perspective.”
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