March 19, 2024

Tethered balloon rides being offered at Balloon Days

The sensation of floating away from the ground in a hot air balloon will be available to spectators at this weekend’s Southwest Iowa Hot Air Balloon Days – weather permitting.

For the first time in the 40-year history of the event, tethered balloon rides will be available to the public.

Providing the rides will be Creston native Adam Boden, a 1999 Creston High School graduate who now lives in Indianola and works for National Ballooning Ltd, located in Patterson.

Rides will cost $20 per person, and Boden expects each ride to last an average of two to three minutes, though that time could vary depending on the number of people waiting in line for rides.

“It kind of depends on what kind of demand we’ve got for people wanting to do the rides,” Boden said. “We just have one balloon, so we want to get as many people through.”

Just like the competition flights, the tethered balloon rides will be weather dependent.

Boden said ideal conditions for the tethered balloon rides would be winds of 7 mph or less.

His 77,000-cubic-feet National balloon, named “Pizazz,” will be tied to the ground and can carry two to three passengers at a time, depending on weight.

The balloon will float to about 50 or 75 feet above ground during each flight.

“They can expect to feel what it’s like to leave the ground in a balloon,” Boden said. “It’s kind of a different feeling in a balloon. A lot of people compare it to the ground leaving you instead of you leaving the ground. It’s quite a neat experience.”

The tethered balloon rides will be set up at one of two different locations, depending on the weather. The first location choice is on the south end of the airport, south of the tarmac. The second location choice is on the north side near the old grass runway.

Balloon rides will be available Saturday morning, Saturday evening and Sunday morning. The rides will start shortly after the pilot’s meetings at each of those times. Pilot’s meetings are scheduled for 6:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday and 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Southwest Iowa Hot Air Balloon Days Chairperson Roger Lanning said he hopes the tethered balloon rides enhance the experience for spectators.

“If they’ve got that fear of heights, this would be a way of doing it without getting too high,” Lanning said. “The other thing is to see a balloon up close for an extended period of time, kind of see the beauty and the size.”

Lanning said it is possible that balloons could be flying in competition flights, but Boden’s balloon would be grounded, since his tethered balloon will require even less wind than the competition balloons.

Boden developed a passion for hot air balloons having grown up experiencing the Southwest Iowa Hot Air Balloon Days in Creston.

He also grew up visiting his grandparents in Indianola during the National Balloon Classic each August, which is where he eventually got his start in ballooning.

“Back then, balloon pilots used to have little pins of what their balloons looked like. Some people would collect them,” Boden said. “The pilots would stay at Simpson College. My cousin and I would ride our bikes around Simpson College and collect the balloon pins from pilots.”

One year, while riding around collecting pins, pilot Becky Tetrhen asked Boden and his cousin, Scott Armstrong, if they would help her dry out her damp balloon. That led to the cousins assisting Tetrhen the rest of the week.

“I went for a balloon ride at the age of 10 and, on that ride, I was hooked and knew it was going to be something I’d do someday,” Boden said. “My cousin and I, we both helped her every year after that. Eventually, she trained both of us.”

Both Boden and Armstrong are licensed pilots now, and Armstrong still competes in the Southwest Iowa Hot Air Balloon Days.

Boden hasn’t competed in Creston’s event for several years. Since he and his wife had a son, he hasn’t had as much time for pleasure or competition flying.

Instead, he has turned more toward commercial balloon flying.

“It’s always great to come back to your hometown,” Boden said. “I just hope this will add something more to the event. Hopefully it will give the crowd something to do while they’re out there at the airport. It also gives them the experience of a flight, too.”

Lanning hopes the tethered balloon rides can inspire the people of Creston.

“We really hope it’s another reason for people to come out to the airport, enjoy ballooning, enjoy the fall weather and get a sense of what it’s all about,” Lanning said. “I’ve always hoped someone in Creston would get hooked on ballooning and buy a balloon, and maybe this would be a catalyst to that.”