Balloons over Waikato celebrated its comeback in Hamilton this week. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Balloons over Waikato celebrated its comeback in Hamilton this week. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Hamilton’s much-loved Balloons over Waikato hot air balloon festival celebrated a glorious comeback to the region this week, but the grand finale is yet to come.
While the weather cancelled this morning’s lift-off and tonight’s Balloons visit Waipā event at the Mighty River Domain, the organisers hope to still go ahead with the Basket Burn at The Base shopping centre. An update on this is expected this afternoon at 3.30pm.
The completely booked-out Zuru Nightglow will light up at Claudelands Oval this year, with 25,000 people set to be in attendance - all other keen punters are advised to enjoy the show “from the comfort of their own homes” by tuning into the livestream.
Event organiser Michele Connell says the festival had a “fantastic start” on Tuesday morning, with an estimated 3000 to 5000 people gathering at Innes Common to see the balloons lifting off.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start [to the festival]. We had two absolutely beautiful days, with Innes Common being full of people. And that’s not even counting all those who see us driving to work or on the way to school,” Connell said on Wednesday.
A total of 23 hot air balloons delighted Hamiltonians throughout the week - one fewer than anticipated, as the Abel Tasman balloon had to drop out last minute.
Connell says: “Twenty-three is a great number for us, and we are so thrilled to have them all here.”
The festival is not over yet, with nine balloons, including special-shape ballons Tico the Sloth and Tiger, set to visit Waipā’s Mighty River Domain today as the rest fire up for the Basket Burn at Hamilton’s The Base shopping centre - if the weather plays ball.
Tomorrow, all balloons will hopefully lift off one last time from Innes Common around 7am before they get ready for the beloved Nightglow in the evening. For any updates visit the Balloons over Waikato social media channels.
Tico the Sloth and Tiger, the two special-shape hot air balloons from the US, were the crowd favourites during the first day of Balloons over Waikato 2023. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Connell says she was aware of people being unhappy about the spectator limit for the event, but the organisers had to make a decision about how to future-proof the event in case Covid-19 strikes again.
“Also, our priority is not so much to be the biggest event, but the best. We want to create a safe, family-friendly [environment] ... and with that many people [attending] in the past, this has been difficult,” Connell says.
In 2009, the Nightglow attracted around 80,000 people to the University of Waikato sports fields.
She says people quickly snapped up all 25,000 free tickets for this year’s event and the waitlist has closed. Anyone without a ticket won’t be able to access the Claudelands Oval.
A total of 23 hot air balloons visited Hamilton. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Several roads around Claudelands will be closed to traffic during the event, and while the organisers can’t stop anyone from watching the event from outside the venue, they don’t condone this.
“We don’t want people to turn up disappointed. We encourage people who missed out on tickets this year to tune into the livestream and watch the glow show from home,” Connell says.
The organisers say they are looking to “control” spectator numbers to the Nightglow in the future as well. A decision on how will be made after this year’s event.
