In the town of Erie Colorado, the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains provides a picture-perfect area for a balloon festival. Colorado National Golf Course is the perfect place for excitement and a peaceful morning for families to come to see some balloons being launched in a picture-perfect sunrise.
Starting back in 1996, over 60 balloons partake in this magical event. It attracts thousands of visitors every year. With those thousands of visitors each year it helps the local economy and community build and grow. Some of these visitors include families of all sizes, spanning from couples to families with children.
One of the visitors, Jeremy Coram, is a father of two kids and lives right next to Colorado National. Having the closest view of this balloon launch without leaving his home and being able to see the community come together. “Peaceful, relaxed, exciting, and amazed” are the multiple ways he describes the festival brought to him and his family. The most important piece is making sure that his kids have a good time seeing all these balloons. “Watching my kids enjoy it. It is within our community. Connecting with others from our community and finally watching them take off (launch) within such proximity.” Coram recalls.
Described by Coram shows a unique perspective on how much meaning a festival like this might bring to the town of Erie and help bring others together.
Without any of the workers, this festival wouldn’t be able to take place at such a nice venue. Julie Poursadigh who is one of the first full organizers on the side of Colorado National, had spent countless hours with her team to organize this event.
Poursadigh worked with the chamber of commerce to ensure that the event brought joy to everyone. Ellie Cabbage, who is now retired, works for the Chamber of Commerce, she brought a great deal of knowledge and organization to carefully plan which balloons will be at the festival.“We worked together on the timeline of when the pilots could come on the driving range and what time they would need to be launched off. We also organized the meeting and breakfast for the pilots in the morning.” Poursadigh stated.
Once the festival got started, some of the most exciting people that were at the event were the pilots themselves but other pilots maybe needed some more time to wake up. “Some of them were excited to be here and some of them didn’t say anything at all. That could have been because of how early it was though.” Poursadigh described.
Nonetheless, the atmosphere that this festival brought to the people couldn’t be matched. There was a force that had filled people’s emotions and desire to come every single year.Among the people at the event, there was not one age group that dominated the event. People of all ages would wake up earlier than usual and come enjoy all of the hot air balloons.
“The range was filled with families with children and senior citizens. I believe everyone was very excited to have such a unique and niche event in the town they live in,” Poursadigh mentioned,“If the event were to take place now, it would probably be much more crowded and the residents would have more involvement as I believe this town wants to see Erie thrive.” Poursadigh believes.
With all of the excitement, there are always some challenges and disruptions that come with hosting an event of this stature and size. The workers of the golf course had to make sacrifices in preparation to make sure everyone who went to the event didn’t have any complaints.
Rob Grall, who has worked at the course for years, explains what some of the preparations look like,“One of the biggest challenges was having the staff pick up the range balls the night before the festival, and the biggest disturbance was not having the driving range open to golfers for the launching of balloons.” Grall described.
Despite the challenge, Rob and his coworkers worked extra hours to make sure the kids had fun at the festival.With all this hard work from different sides of the operation, the next day, the sun will begin to rise. The vibrant colors and different designs of the balloons start to fill the air.
Even if the festival allowed people to escape for one moment that morning, they would have an ever-lasting impact on the community for years to come. And for all the families who had taken time to go to the event, the memories the kids would have linger with them for the years to come.
If you and your family members are looking forward to this year, the festival will be hosted near Colliers Pkwy on the west side of Soaring Heights K-8. The event will be hosted on July 12th, 13th, and 14th from 10 am to 4 pm.
