While the wind and nearby storms made the 2022 Centralia Balloon Fest a challenge, the entire event went off as scheduled except the Saturday night flight.
Centralia Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Marcus Holland feels everyone left happy.
“We had a great weekend. Great crowd on Friday night and I think even a better crowd Saturday. Our vendors had really long lines, they are really happy. Our pilots got to fly and got the glow, they are happy. The sponsors are happy. All the attendees got to see balloons so we are happy away the weather turned out even though the forecast isn’t what we wanted it to be, I’m glad it cleared off before the end.”
Holland credits the big crowd on Saturday night even with questions about if the Balloons would be to fly and glow, with the other activities in the park. He was also pleased with Sunday Fun Day Attendance with the added events. As far as the future, Holland says.
“As we are growing and getting more pilots in, we want to make sure we get to give everyone their fair chance of flights and glows and everything else. It’s a great feat of scheduling and I think the biggest thing we need is more volunteers. We can’t add if we don’t get more people. We need volunteers are key to making sure this runs smoothly, but also so they can keep it going.”
This year’s chair was JJ DeMattei.
“I think the attendance was up definitely. I think we had more people in the park. I know we had more food vendors open in the park because we had more people so I think it went well.”
Next year’s chair is Sharon Schwartz.
“We will have a meeting in a couple of weeks and we will go over everything. Everyone on the committees, take notes on what needs to be changed so we will go over all those and see what needs to be changed and what should stay the same.”
Schwartz says there are not any major changes she wants to make at the present time.
Alley Corn appears headed down the street during the Sunday morning flight. Photo by Pat Hodges.
Part of the Balloon Fest car show held on Sunday. Photo by Pat Hodges.
The US Air Force Starlifters perform at Balloon Fest Sunday afternoon. Photo by Pat Hodges.
