An estimated 35,000 entered Centralia Balloon Fest during the three-day event at Foundation Park that concluded on Sunday.
Centralia Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Marcus Holland was pleased.
“The whole weekend was great. We had great crowds Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The weather was beautiful. Of course, we had some wind here on Sunday, so the balloons did not take off. We did have two great glows on Friday and Saturday night, and that’s what the people come out for,” Holland said. “We had great crowds during the glows. We had concerts with bigger names like Taylor Made, the Taylor Swift tribute band, and Josh Graycin on Saturday. For both of those thousands of people stuck around to watch the concert. When we have a park full of ten or twenty thousand people and a percent stick around it’s really important for us.”
Holland is estimating the Friday night crowd at 10,000, the Saturday night attendance at 20,000, and the Family Fun Day crowd on Sunday at 5,000. He was especially happy with the growth of those coming to the park on Sunday.
This year’s chair Rob Jackson was also pleased with the balloon glows and entertainment.
“I’m most proud of our volunteers, our steering committee,” Jackson said. “They are the backbone of this entire event, and I couldn’t do it without them.”
Next year’s chair is Galen Mahle.
“Obviously there’s a lot of things now that we think worked really well this year that we hope to just continue to enhance. Every year there are things that we realize we may be able to improve,” Mahle said. “The entertainment portion is a big draw, so we’ll look to continue to improve on that. The big stage, the professional stage that we’ve had for the last couple of years has allowed us to draw some bigger name entertainers. I think it’s gone really well over the last couple of years, and we’ll continue to improve that.”
Mahle also understands the importance the special shaped balloons play in drawing attendance to Balloon Fest and getting good special shapes will be one of the top priorities of next year’s steering committee.
