In doing my research for things to do for the summer the Marysville All Ohio Balloon Festival was high on the list. Scheduled for Friday evening and all day Saturday, it conflicted with another event I really wanted to see on Saturday, so I made sure I got out of work a little early and we hurried up to Marysville for the Friday even events.
Arriving at the airport as the crowd started to collect, we were directed into a field along the runway to park. Entrance to the festival was $10 each, not outrageous but more than most.
Immediately I was disappointed that not only couldn’t you get close to the balloons (still sitting deflated), but we were herded into a pen on a tarmac, with a small grassy area. Then it got even worse as a really bad band started playing, with their amps apparently going to 12 because they were loud.
Finally, it was time for the balloons to be inflated, and as they were the winds picked up and they started to be blown around, so they were deflated.
Eventually though the winds subsided enough for them to get the balloons into the air, but not until we had given up and were ready to leave. This actually worked in our favor since you couldn’t see well from the viewing area, but could from the parking lot.
Once a number of them were in the area we left and did a balloon chase around Union County. This actually turned out to be a lot of fun, and we were able to get some great photos of the balloons as they flew over the fields and barns, eventually landing close enough where we could get action shots of them hitting the ground.
To sum it up the All Ohio Balloon Festival as a festival was a bust, but the balloons were great.
RDZ Photography 