A vision to turn Levin into hot air balloon town

Hot air balloons over Horowhenua, pictured in Easter weekend 2016 with the Tararua Ranges in the background. Photo: Charles Bagnall.

Organisers of a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Levin have officially locked in Queen's Birthday weekend next year as the date for an event that hasn't been held since 2016.

From then on, Fire Up Levin will be a bi-annual event.

Event organiser and balloon pilot Glen Smith was relieved to have confirmed a date for a new festival after three years of planning, having already postponed it once due to Covid-19.

"We are really excited to bring ballooning back to the district and give balloonists the chance to fly in Levin again including new faces that have never had the chance to fly Levin before," he said.

A balloon enthusiast from the US has indicated he wants to travel to Levin and fly his balloon at Fire Up Levin, he said.

"It's generating international interest," he said.

A new balloon festival called Fire Up Levin has now been confirmed for next year.

Smith was passionate about hot air balloons. The website has a graphic showing the next festival was 326 days, 18 hours and 32 minutes away.

He said locals wanted to see the balloons return, too. It was already embedded in a collective psyche with balloons featuring in murals, posters, banners, and photographs associated with the town since that first balloon festival in 2005.

"Our vision is to turn Levin into an iconic ballooning town," he said.

"The local community has been amazing. We have received a lot of positive comments about the festival and people are excited to see balloons make a return."

Smith said next year's Fire Up Levin would be a family-friendly night glow event staged at Levin Showgrounds with food trucks, music, and a display of exotic and vintage cars.

"We are also planning to have a balloon the public can walk inside," he said.

"Weather permitting some may be able to offer tethered rides, and it will be a chance to meet some of the pilots and people behind the scenes."

If people wanted to have the best chance to view the balloons taking to the sky, they would have to get out of bed early, around 7am.

"With ballooning we are weather dependent so you might need to be up early," he said.

This photo on the Fire Up Levin website could be recreated over the skies of Levin next year with a new festival confirmed.

"We will have more details closer to the event," he said.

The decision to hold the event every second year would be to keep it fresh and allow for fresh ideas to help it evolve, he said.

"If anyone would like to sponsor our festival they could please email us at info.fireuplevin@gmail.com or visit our website www.fireuplevin.co.nz"

"We are also looking for volunteers and balloon crew to be part of something amazing and different, and to experience what ballooning is all about."

Smith said the local club wanted to purchase its own balloon that could be used regularly around the district to promote the area.

He caught the ballooning bug as a youngster and wanted to get more young people involved.

Smith said the committee was fundraising to buy a second-hand balloon and had found one for sale worth $15,000.

"Second-hand balloons rarely come up for sale in New Zealand or Australia so we have a rare opportunity to buy one," he said.

"So far we have raised $1000, so every little bit helps. We would like to thank everybody that has so far contributed."