ReNe: the great forest park balloon race

Well, it's more than a race. It was apparently an entire weekend event, but I only went to see the 'hare and hounds' race. I didn't quite know what to expect but in the end, I quite enjoyed myself.

The event was well attended. It was crowded but the temperatures were cool and so it wasn't so bad. There were quite a number of vendors and I also saw groups who brought their own picnics.

Found the field where the hot-air balloons were being inflated. Above, the energizer bunny (the 'hare') is being inflated with, if I recall correctly, a 3000 BTU heater. Energizer is one of the main sponsors for this event.

Fully inflated, about 15-20 mins later, it was a rather striking and impressive sight.


And take-off. There was appropriate music playing, some oldie song about hot-air balloons, and kids were yelling, and it was all rather fun actually.

Making a U-turn... can see the ears flopping as the bunny's losing a bit of air there...

But it quickly recovered.


Meanwhile, the other balloons (the 'hounds') were getting ready. These were, as far as I could tell, corporate or sponsor balloons. They were suppose to launch about 15 mins after the bunny has taken off.

Spot of trouble with a couple of the balloons there. The breeze was blowing some of the balloons into the others, and when you think about the flame burners that were being used to inflate the balloons...

One by one as they inflated fully, they started to take off. No, they didn't all take off at once. Though it was supposed to be a race, it's not a race of whether or not the 'hounds' could catch the 'hare' in the air, but whether or not the hounds could catch the hare when it lands. Sorta predicting where the hare would land... Frankly, I can't really see how that is done and I didn't hang around for the race to conclude.


I counted over 30 hot-air balloons, not including the bunny.


Run bunny, run!