Arts & Entertainment

Festival of Ballooning Set to Rise Again on Friday

Festival also features star musical concerts and death-defying acts.

By Mike Deak

If hot air rises, then the QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning is at the top of the list of things to do in New Jersey every summer.

The three-day festival, which begins Friday at Solberg Airport in Readington, is the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America. More than 150,000 people are expected to attend the festival, which also features activities for families and a concert series.

This year’s concerts feature New Jersey’s Blues Traveler on Friday night, REO Speedwagon on Saturday night and country superstars Big & Rich to close the festival on Sunday night.

Also performing will be R5 featuring Ross Lynch from the Disney Channel’s TV series “Austin & Ally,” who will perform Sunday at 1 p.m.

But the festival is more than 100 hot air balloons and star musical performers. There are other captivating acts like human cannonball Jennifer Smith, a 37-year-old mother of two who gets shot 125 feet out of a 27-foot cannon. Smith will perform her death-defying stunt twice on Friday, three times on Saturday and three times on Sunday.

But it’s still the balloons which people come to see, with two ascensions a day at dawn and dusk when the wind is lightest. Balloons in the air have always been an unforgettable sight in the morning rush hour in Somerset County as the prevailing westerly wind takes them along routes 22 and 202.

The new signature balloon from title sponsor QuickChek is the Flighthouse, a 115-foot-tall flying lighthouse that pays respects to Restore the Shore efforts after Hurricane Sandy last October.

The festival will also pays tribute to Elvis with a new 105-foot-tall balloon from Brazil, complete with 40-foot-wide sunglasses and a sparkling white sequined jump-suit. 

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Eight special shaped balloons in all will be taking to the skies including the PNC American Flag balloon. Five stories tall, it was created following 9/11 and has flown at the Festival every year since. New this year is an 85-foot-tall Fireman, whose helmet shield pays tribute to those bravest at the World Trade Center.

Other new shapes include Pea-Nut, a 100-foot-tall inverted flying elephant; an Off the Wall Humpty Dumpty; and a new football-shaped balloon from Pepsi. A returning favorite is the Unique Photo SnoBird, a 110-foot-tall tourist penguin.

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Every night there will be fireworks and there will also be hundreds of arts, crafters and food vendors.

On-site parking at Solberg Airport is $10, but parking will be free at Raritan Valley Community College on Route 28 in Branchburg with shuttle buses to the festival.

General admission tickets are $30 for adults, $15 for children. Included is admission to lawn seating for the concerts.

For more information, visit http://www.balloonfestival.com/


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