Pilot returns after 31 years
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
MIRROR IMAGE – Eric Olsen of Manchester flew the balloon, “Blue Heaven,” over the Aroostook River Saturday evening as part of the seventh annual Crown of Maine Balloon Fest. Olsen, who flew in Presque Isle in 1979 during the Northern Maine Fair, has asked Balloon Fest organizers if he could be invited again next year and they readily said, “Yes.” Blue Heaven is owned by Derald Young of Damn Yankee Balloons in Dixfield. Twelve balloon pilots participated in this year’s festival. Look for more Balloon Fest photos in a future edition of The Star-Herald.
PRESQUE ISLE – Twelve hot air balloons – including a gigantic dog named Beagle “Max” Maximus – filled the skies over Presque Isle last week as part of the seventh annual Crown of Maine Balloon Fest.
Presented by KeyBank and hosted by the Presque Isle Area Chamber of Commerce, organizers were pleased with this year’s festival.
“We had happy passengers, happy pilots and the community was very supportive, as well,” said Derik Smith, Balloon Fest chair. “I think everyone is pretty enthusiastic about next year already.”
Of the six scheduled launches, only two were cancelled due to weather.
“We had to scrap Thursday night and Friday morning due to wind and rain, so we flew four out of six times,” Smith said. “Those four flights were fantastic. The wind blew in a great direction; we got to go down by the Aroostook River and across town … all the things balloonists like to do.”
One of those balloonists was Eric Olsen of Manchester. He flew the balloon “Blue Heaven,” which is owned by Derald Young of Damn Yankee Balloons in Dixfield. Blue Heaven is 105,000 cubic feet, 75 feet tall, and can hold four passengers plus the pilot.
“One pilot couldn’t make it so they needed someone else,” Olsen said. “Derald asked me, ‘Do you want to go up to Presque Isle for the weekend?’ and I said, ‘Sure.’ This is my first time at the Crown of Maine Balloon Fest, but I actually flew here 31 years ago.
“It was during the Northern Maine Fair in 1979,” he said. “I was trying to hustle rides and do tethers. I had a couple people that wanted to fly in the morning. It was fun. I remember that it was wide open flying and beautiful, and those memories came back this weekend.”
In addition to flying hot air balloons, Olsen is a fixed wing pilot. Professionally Olsen does concrete demolition and saw cutting, as well as carpentry work.
“What I like about ballooning is that it’s so serene. I don’t like to fly in the high winds like I did as a young kid; I like it to be serene, gentle and fun. If it’s not going to be a fun flight, then I usually don’t fly,” he said. “The people up here are wonderful. Everybody we’ve met has been great. There are a million fields here and the flying is just wonderful. Back home we have to worry about where we’re going to land every flight, and up here you just get in the balloon and go.
“I love it up here. The festival is very low-key. I asked them if I could be invited again next year and they said, ‘Yes,’” said Olsen. “This year I’ll attend two or three festivals; I used to travel and go to a lot more of them. If I decide to start flying more than 15-20 hours a year, I’ll probably buy my own balloon.”
Balloon Fest organizers will have a “shakedown meeting” to discuss what worked and what could be improved upon for next year.
“People will see a return of a lot of things; though some things will require some adjustments,” said Smith. “We’ll work on the ‘Ride Fly Ride’ bike race as participation wasn’t quite what we had hoped for, but the people who did it had a fantastic time and enjoyed themselves greatly.”
During Sunday morning’s “Ride Fly Ride,” the balloon pilots participated in their own challenge, the “Hare and the Hound.”
Smith, who served as the “hare,” flew out ahead of the pilots and tossed a bag containing a target down to his crew in an open field. While Smith and some of his crew helped land the balloon, other crew members laid out the target, which was a yellow X with a red block in the middle.
“The target’s about 20-feet across,” said Smith. “The pilots all had a beanbag and the objective was to see which pilot could toss their beanbag from the balloon and come closest to the target. Kenny Shumate, a pilot from Orlando, won the competition. His beanbag was two paces from the center and the next closest was 10 paces. It was a lot of fun. That’s one of the standard Balloon Federation of America competitions. We didn’t follow it to the letter, but we had a great time. I guarantee we’ll be doing that again.
“Overall the community in general – the County in general – is getting on board with Balloon Fest. Every year we seem to grow a little bit more as far as crowd participation, passengers that want to fly and volunteers that want to crew,” he said. “I’ve been hearing really positive comments from the community; everyone seems pretty happy.”
The eighth annual Crown of Maine Balloon Fest is scheduled for Aug. 25-28, 2011.
