Hot Air Balloons

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October 21, 2011

Anonymous CNHI The Shelbyville Daily Union Fri Oct 21, 2011, 03:35 PM CDT

SHELBYVILLE, IL. — By Dakota Pruemer

Scarecrow Daze held on October the 7th and 8th featured games, activities, and even a parade. However, the largest attraction may have been the some not so small balloons at Forest Park. These were not your typical balloons, they were hot air balloons. Hot air balloons are massive balloons with an opening at the bottom attached to a basket by cables and ropes. The burner, which is the item that blows out the fire and lifts the balloon off the ground, turns liquid propane into a gas form. If you are thinking it is just a small item you are wrong! Hot air balloons cost anywhere from $25,000 to $90,000, and stand 65 to 80 feet tall.

You may have seen the balloons flying around in the air on Friday evening or on Saturday morning. I personally helped out Saturday evening down by the Shelbyville Dam with the Shelby Energy tethered rides. I will walk you through the steps of what the crew and I did. To start off, we got into an open area so we could unroll the balloon and basket. Once all the supplies were laid out we had two vehicles to tie ropes to so the balloon would not fly away. Then, we set up a gas powered fan by the opening of the balloon, which blew air into the now inflating balloon. Once filled with air, we set the burner up and blew flames into the balloon. As the balloon started to rise, due to the hot air, we had to hold onto the ends to make sure it didn't fly up to soon, or that the sides wouldn't get burned by the hot flames. After the balloon was ready we helped the people get in to the basket and then would go up as high as the ropes would let them, and then we would let them back down.

Myself and other members from Career and Work Ethics class at Shelbyville High school participated as volunteers for the event. Other volunteers from school included Jonathan Howe-Wheat, Brett Reed, Laura Flach, Josh Foster, Kaitlyn Ogden, Aaron Isaacs, Sandi Reber, Zack Kistler, Hannah Fogleman, and Alex Jones. In addition to our experience we earned 3 service hours for helping with this event. Each crew consists of 5 to 6 members, including a chase team and spotter's for the pilots. It was a fun time and there were a ton of families there, I would highly recommend this as a future family event for years to come.

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