Bila the Baby Polar Bear and Farmer Pig are the special shaped hot air balloons coming to Balloons over Waikato this year. Photos / Balloons over Waikato
Bila the Baby Polar Bear and Farmer Pig are the special shaped hot air balloons coming to Balloons over Waikato this year. Photos / Balloons over Waikato
All eyes will be on the skies above Waikato again in March when the Balloons over Waikato festival returns to the region.
It will be a big one for the festival, as it celebrates its 25-year anniversary.
Event manager Michele Connell said the event organisers would celebrate the silver jubilee with all the crowd favourites: Special-shaped hot air balloons, morning lift-offs, the Basket Burn and the Nightglow.
“It’s hard to sum up 25 years in one event, so we are not going to theme everything.”
The two special-shaped hot air balloons attending the festival from March 19 to 23 are Farmer Pig and Bila the Baby Polar Bear, both flying in from the US.
There are no special shapes residing in New Zealand, so Bila and Pig are assumed to be crowd favourites - much like Tico the Sloth and Tiger last year.
Balloons over Waikato celebrates its 25th anniversary in March. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Farmer Pig is 37 metres tall, weighs 227kg and was built in 2005 in Brazil.
Balloon pilot Jordan Cox, based in Indiana, purchased Farmer Pig in 2020 and had the pleasure of flying a few special-shaped balloons like a giant scarecrow and a one-eyed monster before Farmer Pig.
Bila the Baby Polar Bear was built by Kubicek Balloons in Czechia.
Owner and pilot Doug Grime, from Albuquerque, owns four special shape balloons and this year will be his third time with Balloons over Waikato. Connell said it was a costly exercise to bring special shapes to New Zealand - the festival organisers pay for the pilots’ and balloons’ travel - so they would try to have different special shapes at the festival every year.
“We had a total of four special shapes attending before, but it really is budget-dependant.”
Connell said the final number of balloons for this year’s festival was still to be confirmed as registrations were still coming in, but the organisers would aim for 18 to 20.
Some of the balloons, including the special shapes, are set to visit Waipā’s Mighty River Domain on March 22, and the Nightglow will be again a free, but ticketed event.
The Nightglow will again take place at Claudelands Oval this year. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
“We want to deliver a safe and secure event, and being open would make it hard to keep control. It was fantastic last year and this year, we will have 30,000 free tickets which is 5000 more than last year.”
Free tickets for the Nightglow will be released on February 26, from 9am. The music line-up includes Steve & Kenny, Waikato rock and pop band Decibel and The Monroes.
Connell said she was looking forward to the morning lift-offs.
“It’s a lovely part of the festival. It’s magical to see the balloons all take off over Hamilton Lake. On a good day, it’s hard to beat.”
She said the festival originated from an annual get-together for balloon pilots in Hamilton. In the late 90s, the “event” thought of moving elsewhere, so a dedicated trust was set up and in 1999, the first big Balloons over Waikato festival was held.
A total of 23 hot air balloons attended the Balloons Over Waikato Festival last year. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
“We’re proud to still be here, it’s been hard, especially through the Covid years, but Balloons over Waikato is stronger than ever,” Connell said.
“The event remains iconic even after 25 years. Popularity usually comes and goes, but not for this one, it’s just as popular as it was 25 years ago.”
This year was not only a milestone for the festival but also for Connell who has been involved for 20 years.
She said working for the festival was an opportunity that “just fell into her lap” and before becoming the event’s manager she had “a role that looked at ways to grow the event”.
“I always took our children. They loved being up close to the balloons and I thought ‘what a wonderful event’, so getting involved [behind the scenes] was exciting.”
She said she was most proud of delivering the event in a Level 3 lock-down.
“We were the only large event to be delivered in 2022 ... We pulled together a Covid-compliant Nightglow in two weeks consisting of a closed event at FMG Stadium.”
However, for her, the most memorable Balloons over Waikato festival was the one the year prior.
“We weren’t able to bring in any special shapes, so we ran it under the theme “Keeping it Kiwi”. It ended up being the biggest Balloons over Waikato Festival ever.”
For more details and up-to-date daily flying information visit balloonsoverwaikato.co.nz or the event’s Facebook page.
Danielle Zollickhofer is a multimedia journalist and assistant news director at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.
