October 15, 2024 • 27 mins
Have you ever wondered what it's like to have a hot air balloon land in your backyard and how that could change your life forever? Join us as we chat with Sam Parks, the new executive director of the Carolina BalloonFest, who experienced just that in 1986. Sam shares his incredible journey from that unexpected moment to becoming a seasoned balloon pilot and a key figure in the ballooning community. Learn about the fascinating distinctions between hot air and gas balloons and hear Sam's stories of flying hydrogen balloons over vast distances. As balloon meister, Sam's role is crucial in ensuring flight operations, safety, and FAA compliance, drawing from his extensive experience, including his time at the renowned Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
In our conversation, we also uncover the monumental efforts of organizing the Carolina BalloonFest in Statesville, involving the dedication of nearly 900 volunteers. Dive into the rich history of ballooning in the community and get a sneak peek at the plans for the upcoming Carolina Balloon Museum in Statesville. Sam's enthusiasm for his new role is contagious as he encourages everyone to explore the upcoming events and attractions, emphasizing the sense of community and adventure that defines the festival. Whether you’re a ballooning aficionado or just curious, this episode promises an exciting glimpse into the vibrant world of hot air ballooning.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you ready to go up up and away in Statesville,
north Carolina, we're gearing upfor the 49th annual Carolina
Balloon Fest.
Tune in to hear about that andmore.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes
you on a captivating journeythrough the heart of one of
North Carolina's most charmingtowns.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
All right, welcome back to Discover Statesville.
Today we're joined by Sam Parks, longtime balloon pilot and new
executive director of theCarolina Balloon Fest.
Sam, welcome, thank you verymuch.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
We're glad to have you here with us this is kind of
a treat to see your studio hereand be part of the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Hey, we're glad to have you.
So I guess, to start off, sam,maybe tell us about your history
in the world of hot airballooning.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Well, it's really directly connected to
Statesville and I tell the storythat a balloon landed in my
back pasture around 1986, Iguess it was.
I think that's about right,just yesterday.
Yeah, seems like Many, manyyears ago.
And the pilot doesn't evenremember meeting me.
(01:01):
And that's how important it ishow we conduct ourselves,
because you never really knowthe impact that you're going to
have on someone's life.
And in this particular case,Charles Willard, who was the
national sales director forTracy Barnes at the time at the
Balloon Works, landed in mybackyard and I went out there to
help him pack up the balloonand I said how can I get
(01:22):
involved in this?
This looks really cool.
And he said why don't youvolunteer through the Chamber of
Commerce?
And lo and behold, I still havethe letter that Danny Hearn sent
me the very next year when heassigned me to an out-of-town
pilot from Louisville, Kentucky.
He was a veterinarian who cameto participate, didn't know the
roads, and I drove his truck.
(01:44):
And that year he gave me a hotair balloon ride.
And I can't remember if therally in 86 was in September or
October, because there was atime in which that we changed it
, but they changed it back toSeptember.
Lo and behold, the next year Ihad my pilot's license and I was
flying, and at the time it wasthe National Balloon Rally,
(02:05):
Right, so that's how I gotstarted.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That's a cool story.
Yeah, because Richard saidyou're the new executive
director, but you're certainlynot new to the Statesville
Carolina Balloon Fest andballooning.
You used to be the balloonmeister right for this festival.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat and then tell us why you
left us for a little while andwhat brought you back.
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Thank you.
Yes, I got my pilot's licenseprivate in 88 and went on to
become a commercial pilot.
I've got a gas balloon ratingso, and I've flown balloons in
almost every country around theworld.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I'm going to interrupt you real quick.
Tell us what a gas balloonrating is, because people the
most of our listeners don't evenknow the difference about what
you just said.
Tell us that there is adifferent type of hot air
balloon.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
The most common one that you see is a hot air
balloon.
Those are the ones that you seeout at the festival.
You blow them up with a fan,essentially, and you turn on the
burner and you heat up the airand that's called a hot air
balloon.
But there are some balloonsthat you actually fill with a
lighter-than-air gas, such ashelium or hydrogen.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
I have a hydrogen balloon, which then you fill it
up and I can fly for greatdistances Wow.
So it's a different kind ofanimal altogether, because
there's no heater, there's noburner.
Obviously, you wouldn't want tohave a burner around hydrogen
fuel Remember the Hindenburgincident but I can fly from
distances that's over 1,000miles.
(03:36):
Wow.
And your fuel whereas propaneis your fuel for hot air, sand
is your fuel, if you will, forgas balloons, oh, cool.
So the more sand you can carryon board, and you dip it out
each time the gas cools and yougo back up again.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, very cool yeah.
So I interrupted you.
That's okay, balloonmeister,yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yes, many, many years ago I guess it was around
mid-90s or so I was asked to bethe balloon meister.
I did that for a couple ofyears.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that I was incharge at the time of all flight
operations, making the finaldecisions whether or not the
balloons are going to go up andif there's going to be any kind
of a competition for that day,what it's going to be.
(04:16):
And I work closely with the FAAto make sure that the race and
the competition and also theflights are all within the FAA
regulations.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So sort of the liaison between festival
operations and all the balloonpilots.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Absolutely.
It's almost like air trafficcontrol, but you have way more
than just getting them out of apattern.
You basically overhaul thesafety aspects of the entire
rally.
So I did that for a couple ofyears, took a break and then,
before I left in 18, I had beenthe balloon meister for 12 years
(04:49):
, and so I had a staff of about20 different volunteers, such as
weather people, scoringpersonnel, propane refueling
managers all that.
It really goes into puttingthis on just from a flight
operation standpoint, wow.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, and so where did you go in?
Speaker 4 (05:07):
18?
.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Well, let's go back just a little bit further.
In 2011, a friend of mine who'soriginally from Burlington,
north Carolina, also a balloonpilot, took a job at the
Albuquerque InternationalBalloon Fiesta as the event
director, the AlbuquerqueInternational Balloon Fiesta.
As the event director.
He had been there for a coupleof years and he asked me to come
out to join the flightoperations team for that event.
(05:31):
So I started out there as theassistant balloon meister and
then a couple of years went toballoon meister.
So I did that actually for sixyears.
One day, one of the board ofdirectors came to me and says
how would you like to come towork for us full time?
And at the time my wife and Ihad owned and operated a heating
and air conditioning company inStatesville for 28 years.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yes, that's how I met you.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Yes, and the knees were saying you need to retire,
and so it was a good time in ourlives to basically just try a
new adventure.
So we sold our heating and airconditioning company in spring
of 2018, moved to Albuquerque,new Mexico, and I was the
director of operations and thenmoved up to the executive
(06:16):
director position Wow, Now,that's the largest festival in
the world the world.
Yes, it's a nine-day event,which actually starts in about
nine days from now because it'sright before the Carolina
Balloon Fest, but they typicallyhave somewhere between 500 and
600 hot air balloons.
And then last year I organizedthe Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon
(06:39):
Race to take place there inAlbuquerque, so they incorporate
some gas balloons as well, butthey have over 100 special shape
balloons and it runs for ninedays and the attendance is
somewhere between 900,000 and amillion people over that length
of time.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Pretty decent-sized event, huh.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yes, and so I retired .
We'd have to build a few morehotels for that.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
We need a much bigger field.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and more time.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
But that's cool and then.
So you've been back here, andwhen did you take over as the
executive director of theCarolina Balloon Fest?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Pretty much the end of May this year, I retired from
the Albuquerque InternationalBalloon Fiesta in December,
considered what I wanted to donext and, as I mentioned, my
friend Don Edwards, who moved toAlbuquerque.
He, coincidentally had comeback to Statesville and was
running the Carolina BalloonFest and he had had a automobile
accident this past winter andhe just decided that his
(07:31):
priorities changed.
He wanted to go to Alaska tofish oh man, which.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I can understand that .
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Shout out to Don if you're listening.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
And so he called me up and said hey, I know you're
not doing anything.
Are you going to fully retireor are you going to work a
little bit longer?
So, as they say, god just had ahand in this plan.
So, as it turns out, I cameback and started working here
the end of May.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Wow, so right in it, because it's just a few months
Right in it so the 49th annual.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
It is.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Carolina Balloon Fest is coming up, so I imagine you
are crazy busy with that.
So we appreciate you breakingout time to be with us.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Well, it's raining today, so I can take a little
bit of a break and then it'sgoing to be, full bore to the
50th right.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I mean you've got a lot of planning to do, but tell
us special shapes, anything youwant people to know about this
year's event.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Well, what's interesting about this year's
event?
If you look at thechronological order, this whole
thing got started in 1974.
However, covid put a pause onthe Carolina Balloon Fest for
two years.
They missed 20 and 21.
So if you count up the numberof years and they count up the
number of festivals, it doesn'tquite line up.
But this is the 49th festivaland traditionally they have
(08:50):
somewhere around 50 to 60balloons, which is a very good
size festival.
As a matter of fact, it's thesecond longest running festival
of its kind and it's the largestfestival of its kind on the
East Coast.
Okay, so part of my goal isindeed to make Statesville the
balloon capital of the East.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, we already are, you know, self-proclaimed, but
we are the balloon capital ofthe East.
Oh, I'm going to spread it wideand far.
There you go.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
No one can tell us otherwise.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
You're going to ink it right, Make it permanent.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
We are.
We are looking forward to that.
We are looking forward to that.
I saw you guys had posted youdo have some special shapes this
year.
We do, and it's more than justhot air balloons, right, you
have a kids zone and lots ofgreat festival food and live
music.
A beer garden.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Beer and wine garden.
We try to really make this anall-family friendly event, give
the parents and the kidssomething to do all day long,
and it's important for us thatare involved in the event to
keep that in mind.
I mean, there are some missionstatements that we adhere to.
However, it really is all aboutthe family.
(10:00):
We want to make sure that thefamilies have a great time.
Keep everyone safe.
The family we want to make surethat the families have a great
time.
Keep everyone safe.
But yes, we do have a schedulethat starts at approximately
seven o'clock in the morning,right after sunrise, and it runs
all the way through till eighto'clock at night.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
For three days.
And so I think that's importantto note.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
You know about the structure of the festival and
that you know there isentertainment and things to do
from the moment the gates openuntil they close, because, as
you're well aware, as we're wellaware, you know, what we look
at is oh, it's a beautiful dayoutside Does not necessarily
mean that it's a beautiful dayfor hot air balloons to fly.
That's right.
You know we're feeling theweather on the ground.
(10:36):
Obviously, wind changes thehigher we go.
But I think that's one of thegreat sort of ways that they've
built the Carolina Balloon Festis that, even in the unfortunate
circumstance that balloonscan't take off, you guys will
usually always try to at leastdo an inflation if possible,
right, and then, in the eventthat that doesn't work, there's
still live music and all theother things to keep the family
entertained.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
It's still worth going to, absolutely and really.
The culmination each night isthe balloon glow, and that is
something very special that whenthe balloons light up at night
with a special burner that theyhave, it makes them look like
huge lightning bugs and it'slike a seven-story tall bug.
They just glow and it's abeautiful thing.
Yeah, it's like a seven-storytall bug, they just glow and
(11:17):
it's a beautiful thing.
Yeah, it's cool.
And so the weather team isconstantly monitoring the
weather to see if we can do somesafe operations.
And that's the key.
We want mass ascensions, wewant balloons flying in, we want
to be able to provide thosepassenger rides that people
really have as a bucket listitem to be able to ride in a hot
air balloon.
But if that doesn't happen,we've got music, entertainment,
(11:40):
we've got all kinds of thingsthat they can do and see,
because you've got to rememberthat balloons will take off at
about sunrise and then within acouple hours of sunset, so
there's a lag there in themiddle that we need to entertain
our guests.
Yeah, but you have some tetheredballoon rides throughout the
day we do yes, which is a lot offun, and that's a wonderful
thing.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, and visiting with the balloon pilots.
I see a lot of people doingthat.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Fair food.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Fair food.
Fair food yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Sam, you mentioned your mission.
Talk to us about the board, theCarolina Balloon Charities and
what the mission is and how youguys give back to the community.
I think that's important.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
You know I mentioned before that when I first started
going, the event was actuallycalled the National Balloon
Rally and they changed the name,which I fully supported.
But we have a charity that'scalled National Balloon Rally
Charities and then we dobusiness as the Carolina Balloon
Fest, and so we have missionstatement, points of interest
(12:39):
that I think are vitallyimportant for us, and we keep
this in our minds.
We want to promote ballooning,we want to promote the city of
Statesville, the state of NorthCarolina, but we also want to be
able to give back to localcharities, and so if we're
successful and we're blessedwith good weather, the idea is
(12:59):
to be able to always put back alittle bit of a nest egg so we
can continue this legacy, butthen give money back into the
local charities so they cancontinue to do good things that
they do.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, and in turn I've seen the charities over the
past several months saying youknow, come, help us volunteer
for the.
How many volunteers does ittake to put on a balloon fest?
Speaker 4 (13:21):
As they say, it takes a village, and it's really true
when it comes to putting on anevent like this.
I would say you're looking atapproximately 800 to 900
different volunteers to help putthis on, and it's only for
three days, so there's a wholelot of moving parts behind the
scene.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, both before and after as well, we have a very
passionate community about hotair ballooning.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
It's in our DNA 100%.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, and it's cool because we had the Full Bloom
Film Festival not too long agoand the opening night of that
there was a hot air balloon fluand we've got all these visitors
in from outside of Statesvilleand from across the country and
it's like, oh my gosh, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
And it's always beautiful to see a hot air
balloon.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
But I was talking to some folks that were here from
California and it's like youknow, I was like really that's,
that's not that rare.
I mean, balloon Fest is coolbecause you look up and you
might see 20 or 30 balloons inthere, but to see a hot air
balloon in this area isn't allthat abnormal which is really
cool.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
It is, and that's the history that Tracy Barnes
started in the early 70s andthen Bill Meadows continued by
taking the rally up to LoveValley and then bringing it back
into Statesville was a greatidea that the Chamber of
Commerce did many, many yearsago.
So we want to continue to keepthis festival going for the next
49 and the next 50 years.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Right, yeah, well, we like this Better and better
every year.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
That's exactly it, yes.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So, speaking about Statesville being a destination
for ballooning, I always say anyday is a day for hot air
ballooning in Statesville.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
With the exception of today, as long as the wind.
With the exception of today, aslong as the wind and the
weather's right A little rainytoday, weather permitting.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
But that's not the only thing you're working on
right.
That's not the only reason youcame back to Statesville.
There's something else Born andraised right here.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
This is my hometown and I couldn't be happier to
come back, not only for theCarolina Balloon Fest, but also
I'm working with a group ofreally passionate investors to
possibly build a museum here, tocreate a destination for people
to come learn about hot airballooning and learn about
Statesville the land has alreadybeen purchased on I-40.
(15:36):
And one day soon, we hope tohave a building out there
standing tall and proudpromoting hot air ballooning and
telling the legacy of TracyBarnes and the history of
ballooning here, not only inStatesville and Arlington County
, but North Carolina.
Yeah, that's amazing.
North Carolina has a vasthistory of ballooning.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Yeah, it's the Carolina Balloon Museum, right.
Carolina Balloon Museum.
Yeah, that's amazing Because.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
North Carolina has a vast history of ballooning.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, it's the.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Carolina Balloon Museum.
Right, carolina Balloon Museum.
Yeah, yep, we've got a logo,we've got land.
Right now we're in theinformation stage.
We're meeting with somesupporters at the state level,
county level, city level, andright before the end of the year
you're going to see kind of amass marketing campaign about
how to go about finishing thisproject Right, and at that time,
(16:20):
is that when you'd start torelease sort of mock-ups and
sketches and things of what thismuseum would look like?
We already have a set of plans,oh that's okay.
We've already gone that far A 3Dmodel.
We have a 3D model and we'rejust trying to do this in the
correct way, not get too farahead of ourselves to build some
groundswell of support.
But, yeah, we're happy to betalking about it and show you
(16:43):
our plans.
We're excited about it.
But we're also excited aboutcreating this as a welcome
center for the city ofStatesville, because it's
literally going to be on theeastern edge of the city as you
come in from, say, moxville orWinston-Salem, so you'll have an
opportunity to come in andlearn all about Statesville as
well.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, very excited about that.
That's amazing.
Yeah, we love it.
So Carolina Balloon Fest isalways the third weekend of
October, right?
It is Keep it simple.
So it's the 18th, 19th and 20th.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
It is.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Are there still some balloon flights available?
Are there still some pilotsthat have flights available?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
There are, and you can learn all about the event at
our website,carolinaballoonfestcom.
But just to kind of back upjust for a minute, we actually
start the rally Friday morningon an unofficial capacity.
Okay, we have balloons flyingall over the city from various
locations and our special shapeswill be here, so it's kind of
an unofficial start, but thenour full official mass ascension
(17:45):
is Friday afternoon.
And, yes, there are some sitesexcuse me, some spots available
for any of the other balloonsthat you can go on our website
and just pick on a balloon andpick on a pilot and that will
tell you whether or not theyhave some availability.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
How many balloons are there this year?
Speaker 4 (18:01):
We have 55.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
That's amazing, that's great 55.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
And that seems to be our sweet spot for the size of
festival grounds that we haveand that's also a great show for
the crowd.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I've got to have room to inflate everybody.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
We do because we want a lot of people out there.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Sure yeah, and still volunteer opportunities too.
Someone wants to go tocarolinaballoonfestcom be a part
of it?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Absolutely.
We welcome volunteers.
We'll put you to work.
If you want to volunteer, Allyou have to do is just go to the
volunteer page on our websiteand just click on the link that
says I want to volunteer.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, well, not that all that is not exciting enough.
But early on, when we firststarted talking, you said you
have your special gas licenseand I just happened to know that
you just got back from Germanyright, doing something really
cool, and I think our listenerswould like to hear about that
that you, that in your free timeyou went and did this really
(18:57):
cool thing with gas ballooning.
So tell us, tell us about thatadventure you just got back from
.
Well, thank you.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I had already signed up to be the one of the
directors for the Gordon Bennettgas balloon race when Carolina
Balloon Fest hired me.
So I said just remember, I'mgoing to be gone for about 10
days to Germany, but the CoupeAeronautique Gordon Bennett gas
balloon race is the oldest formof aerial aviation racing in the
(19:22):
world.
It goes all the way back to1906.
And I mentioned earlier aboutthe gas balloons that are filled
with helium and hydrogen.
There's always a long-distancerace each year.
In this particular year it tookoff from Münster, germany, and
the winners landed in thesouthern southwest corner of
Portugal, about 2,100 kilometersover three days later.
(19:44):
And it is an extremely,extremely unique sport where
you're basically camping in thesky.
But the rules are very simpleyou all take off from one spot.
Whoever flies the furthest iscrowned the winner.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Camping in the sky?
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Yeah, so camping in the sky.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
As directing of this race.
Are you flying, Are you?
Speaker 4 (20:07):
following them.
Mission Control is basicallyset up a lot like your studio
right here, and we also havewhat's called Gordon Bennett TV,
where we do shows just likethis, and each one of the
balloons have a tracker on themso we can track them, like on
the screen behind us here.
So one of my responsibilitiesis to make sure that all the
(20:28):
pilots can get through all thedifferent airspaces as they
traverse these differentcountries, because they went
from Germany to France, to Spainand then Portugal, and each one
of them has a separate set ofair traffic control measures.
So one of my roles is to makesure that they all get up and
they all get down safely.
This year, we had 21 differentteams from 17 different
(20:51):
countries participating Wow,very cool.
And who won the Austria 2 teamparticipating Wow, very cool.
And who won the Austria 2 team?
Okay, yes, and so that meansthat in two years, the race will
take off from Austria.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
All right.
The United States of America,you'd have a state's old gas
balloon that can win that.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Well mine is a little on the small size.
Mine wouldn't be verycompetitive.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
What size basket are these balloons?
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Well, not much bigger than the table in which they
were sitting behind, and oneside typically has a kick-out
panel to where you can lay on abench and stretch your feet out.
But the way it normally worksis one is taking a nap while the
other pilot is flying, and thenyou switch off every three or
four hours.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Kick-out panel, like the side of the basket, opens up
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
We've got to hang a few.
Cindy would love that.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So fun fact.
When Richard and I started thispodcast August of 2023, so a
little over a year ago neitherone of us had ever been on a hot
air balloon flight.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Oh well, that's sad yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
We remedied that.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, we remedied.
We actually launched thispodcast midair on Facebook Live.
That's a cool thing, andluckily you couldn't tell that I
was frozen in place.
If the side of the basket wasopen I might not have made it
through.
But I'd go anytime, it was themost amazing experience.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Well then, now that you've done it, let's do it
again, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
We should do like an anniversary podcast.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
There you go, just throwing it out there.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
An anniversary podcast and it's like you say.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I mean, I had never been in one before and so it's.
I mean, as soon as we wereairborne, it's just like, oh my
God, and when we landed, you'removing with the wind, so it's
very calm, oh yeah, verytranquil.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
It was unbelievable, I mean just silence it was
amazing.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Except for us talking Right.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
And we were up there with Charles Page, right, and we
were up there with Charles Page.
So it was like, if we do freakout, we're up there with Charles
Page.
Like who better to be like, hey, it's going to be okay.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And he'd have to wait , hoping we'd stop talking so he
could goose a little.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
He does have to do that on occasion.
It was great.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, no, it was amazing and I have a severe fear
of heights.
Um, even at the very lastminute, I was trying to figure
out how to crawl out of thebasket and I think I let
michelle hepler get in becauseshe was chasing, so it was just
too much, too difficult to getout.
I'm talking to her and I hadconvinced myself.
I'm like let's switch.
And she's like okay, if that'swhat you want to do and then
(23:32):
she's like oh, balloon, ridenice and then like wait, we're
in the air.
Yeah, and there we were, and itwas it was Very cool.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
If you, if you, if you, if you're listening and
you've never been, go to thewebsite, look up one of those
spots.
Yeah, go ahead and check thatoff the list because it's
worthwhile.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yes, A hundred percent recommend it.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
So is there anything else you want to make sure our
listeners know about?
Carolina Balloon Fest orballooning in general?
Yes, well, as far as CarolinaBalloon Fest is concerned, you
can also buy tickets there.
Okay, and just remember that wehave a free park and ride
facility down at the TroutmanFairgrounds.
So you go down there, there'sno fee to park.
You can get on a bus there's nofee for the bus, and it drops
you right off at the front gateof the Carolina Balloon Fest
main entrance, and then thebuses basically run every 30
(24:21):
minutes all day long, so you canjust leave your car back at the
fairgrounds, get on a bus andleave all the driving to us, and
you don't have to worry aboutgetting in all that traffic.
So that's very easy.
And something else that we'veactually two things that we've
initiated this year that wehaven't, that the organization
hasn't done before, is thatwe've established a pin drop for
(24:43):
Uber and Lyft rideshare.
So if you don't want to driveand you've got somebody that's
going to take you out there forrideshare, we've got a drop off
point and a pickup point.
And then something really cool,because there's other things
that Statesville is known for,and one of them is cycling.
I think you and I were justtalking about that before the
show started.
(25:03):
Something that we're doing newthis year is called Park and
Bike.
So if you're a cyclist, you candrive your vehicle with your
bicycle on it.
Park it at Celeste HinkleSchool, get on your bicycle and
it's a two and a half mile ridedown Bethlehem Road, brings you
in the VIP entrance and we havewhat's called bike valet parking
(25:27):
.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Oh man, that's a great idea, we're definitely
going to help get the word outon that, so then there's no
charge for parking.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Of course you just have to pay your interest fee.
But then there's no charge forparking.
Of course you just have to payyour interest fee.
But then leave your car atCeleste Hinkle, ride your
bicycle in.
You beat all the traffic.
You get valet parking right upfront.
We will watch over your bikewhile you're enjoying the
festival.
When you're ready to leave, getyour bike head on out to your
car.
That's a great idea.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Park and cycle friends.
Great family activity.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Heard it right here from Sam Parks.
I think.
I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
I love that Well, we want to promote that.
This is our first year, sowe're kind of anxious to see how
it goes over.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, yeah, very cool .
Well, you conquered Albuquerque.
We have high hopes for you herein Statesville, Sam.
I'm very excited to be here.
I don't think I home, because Ithink we're blessed.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
We're lucky to have you here.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
I'm blessed to have a hometown like Statesville.
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Well, we invite you to Discover Statesville everyone
.
Make sure you don't miss theCarolina Balloon Fest and go to
statesvillenccom to check outall the great things that are
happening in our area.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Thank you, Thanks, sam, thank you all, bye-bye.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Thank you for joining Discover Statesville.
You can email us at discover atstatesvillenccom.
Check us out on Facebook atDiscover Statesville, nc hashtag
Discover Statesville and ourwebsite, statesvillenccom.
Catch us next week as wecontinue on our journey to
uncover the hidden gems,culinary adventures,
entertainment, and to beinspired and enlightened as we
(26:55):
Discover Statesville.
Are you ready to go up up and away in Statesville,
north Carolina, we're gearing upfor the 49th annual Carolina
Balloon Fest.
Tune in to hear about that andmore.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes
you on a captivating journeythrough the heart of one of
North Carolina's most charmingtowns.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
All right, welcome back to Discover Statesville.
Today we're joined by Sam Parks, longtime balloon pilot and new
executive director of theCarolina Balloon Fest.
Sam, welcome, thank you verymuch.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
We're glad to have you here with us this is kind of
a treat to see your studio hereand be part of the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Hey, we're glad to have you.
So I guess, to start off, sam,maybe tell us about your history
in the world of hot airballooning.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Well, it's really directly connected to
Statesville and I tell the storythat a balloon landed in my
back pasture around 1986, Iguess it was.
I think that's about right,just yesterday.
Yeah, seems like Many, manyyears ago.
And the pilot doesn't evenremember meeting me.
(01:01):
And that's how important it ishow we conduct ourselves,
because you never really knowthe impact that you're going to
have on someone's life.
And in this particular case,Charles Willard, who was the
national sales director forTracy Barnes at the time at the
Balloon Works, landed in mybackyard and I went out there to
help him pack up the balloonand I said how can I get
(01:22):
involved in this?
This looks really cool.
And he said why don't youvolunteer through the Chamber of
Commerce?
And lo and behold, I still havethe letter that Danny Hearn sent
me the very next year when heassigned me to an out-of-town
pilot from Louisville, Kentucky.
He was a veterinarian who cameto participate, didn't know the
roads, and I drove his truck.
(01:44):
And that year he gave me a hotair balloon ride.
And I can't remember if therally in 86 was in September or
October, because there was atime in which that we changed it
, but they changed it back toSeptember.
Lo and behold, the next year Ihad my pilot's license and I was
flying, and at the time it wasthe National Balloon Rally,
(02:05):
Right, so that's how I gotstarted.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
That's a cool story.
Yeah, because Richard saidyou're the new executive
director, but you're certainlynot new to the Statesville
Carolina Balloon Fest andballooning.
You used to be the balloonmeister right for this festival.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat and then tell us why you
left us for a little while andwhat brought you back.
Let's talk about that.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Thank you.
Yes, I got my pilot's licenseprivate in 88 and went on to
become a commercial pilot.
I've got a gas balloon ratingso, and I've flown balloons in
almost every country around theworld.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I'm going to interrupt you real quick.
Tell us what a gas balloonrating is, because people the
most of our listeners don't evenknow the difference about what
you just said.
Tell us that there is adifferent type of hot air
balloon.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
The most common one that you see is a hot air
balloon.
Those are the ones that you seeout at the festival.
You blow them up with a fan,essentially, and you turn on the
burner and you heat up the airand that's called a hot air
balloon.
But there are some balloonsthat you actually fill with a
lighter-than-air gas, such ashelium or hydrogen.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
I have a hydrogen balloon, which then you fill it
up and I can fly for greatdistances Wow.
So it's a different kind ofanimal altogether, because
there's no heater, there's noburner.
Obviously, you wouldn't want tohave a burner around hydrogen
fuel Remember the Hindenburgincident but I can fly from
distances that's over 1,000miles.
(03:36):
Wow.
And your fuel whereas propaneis your fuel for hot air, sand
is your fuel, if you will, forgas balloons, oh, cool.
So the more sand you can carryon board, and you dip it out
each time the gas cools and yougo back up again.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, very cool yeah.
So I interrupted you.
That's okay, balloonmeister,yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yes, many, many years ago I guess it was around
mid-90s or so I was asked to bethe balloon meister.
I did that for a couple ofyears.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that I was incharge at the time of all flight
operations, making the finaldecisions whether or not the
balloons are going to go up andif there's going to be any kind
of a competition for that day,what it's going to be.
(04:16):
And I work closely with the FAAto make sure that the race and
the competition and also theflights are all within the FAA
regulations.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So sort of the liaison between festival
operations and all the balloonpilots.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Absolutely.
It's almost like air trafficcontrol, but you have way more
than just getting them out of apattern.
You basically overhaul thesafety aspects of the entire
rally.
So I did that for a couple ofyears, took a break and then,
before I left in 18, I had beenthe balloon meister for 12 years
(04:49):
, and so I had a staff of about20 different volunteers, such as
weather people, scoringpersonnel, propane refueling
managers all that.
It really goes into puttingthis on just from a flight
operation standpoint, wow.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, and so where did you go in?
Speaker 4 (05:07):
18?
.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Well, let's go back just a little bit further.
In 2011, a friend of mine who'soriginally from Burlington,
north Carolina, also a balloonpilot, took a job at the
Albuquerque InternationalBalloon Fiesta as the event
director, the AlbuquerqueInternational Balloon Fiesta.
As the event director.
He had been there for a coupleof years and he asked me to come
out to join the flightoperations team for that event.
(05:31):
So I started out there as theassistant balloon meister and
then a couple of years went toballoon meister.
So I did that actually for sixyears.
One day, one of the board ofdirectors came to me and says
how would you like to come towork for us full time?
And at the time my wife and Ihad owned and operated a heating
and air conditioning company inStatesville for 28 years.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yes, that's how I met you.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Yes, and the knees were saying you need to retire,
and so it was a good time in ourlives to basically just try a
new adventure.
So we sold our heating and airconditioning company in spring
of 2018, moved to Albuquerque,new Mexico, and I was the
director of operations and thenmoved up to the executive
(06:16):
director position Wow, Now,that's the largest festival in
the world the world.
Yes, it's a nine-day event,which actually starts in about
nine days from now because it'sright before the Carolina
Balloon Fest, but they typicallyhave somewhere between 500 and
600 hot air balloons.
And then last year I organizedthe Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon
(06:39):
Race to take place there inAlbuquerque, so they incorporate
some gas balloons as well, butthey have over 100 special shape
balloons and it runs for ninedays and the attendance is
somewhere between 900,000 and amillion people over that length
of time.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Pretty decent-sized event, huh.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yes, and so I retired .
We'd have to build a few morehotels for that.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
We need a much bigger field.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and more time.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
But that's cool and then.
So you've been back here, andwhen did you take over as the
executive director of theCarolina Balloon Fest?
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Pretty much the end of May this year, I retired from
the Albuquerque InternationalBalloon Fiesta in December,
considered what I wanted to donext and, as I mentioned, my
friend Don Edwards, who moved toAlbuquerque.
He, coincidentally had comeback to Statesville and was
running the Carolina BalloonFest and he had had a automobile
accident this past winter andhe just decided that his
(07:31):
priorities changed.
He wanted to go to Alaska tofish oh man, which.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I can understand that .
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Shout out to Don if you're listening.
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
And so he called me up and said hey, I know you're
not doing anything.
Are you going to fully retireor are you going to work a
little bit longer?
So, as they say, god just had ahand in this plan.
So, as it turns out, I cameback and started working here
the end of May.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Wow, so right in it, because it's just a few months
Right in it so the 49th annual.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
It is.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Carolina Balloon Fest is coming up, so I imagine you
are crazy busy with that.
So we appreciate you breakingout time to be with us.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Well, it's raining today, so I can take a little
bit of a break and then it'sgoing to be, full bore to the
50th right.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
I mean you've got a lot of planning to do, but tell
us special shapes, anything youwant people to know about this
year's event.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Well, what's interesting about this year's
event?
If you look at thechronological order, this whole
thing got started in 1974.
However, covid put a pause onthe Carolina Balloon Fest for
two years.
They missed 20 and 21.
So if you count up the numberof years and they count up the
number of festivals, it doesn'tquite line up.
But this is the 49th festivaland traditionally they have
(08:50):
somewhere around 50 to 60balloons, which is a very good
size festival.
As a matter of fact, it's thesecond longest running festival
of its kind and it's the largestfestival of its kind on the
East Coast.
Okay, so part of my goal isindeed to make Statesville the
balloon capital of the East.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, we already are, you know, self-proclaimed, but
we are the balloon capital ofthe East.
Oh, I'm going to spread it wideand far.
There you go.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
No one can tell us otherwise.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
You're going to ink it right, Make it permanent.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
We are.
We are looking forward to that.
We are looking forward to that.
I saw you guys had posted youdo have some special shapes this
year.
We do, and it's more than justhot air balloons, right, you
have a kids zone and lots ofgreat festival food and live
music.
A beer garden.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Beer and wine garden.
We try to really make this anall-family friendly event, give
the parents and the kidssomething to do all day long,
and it's important for us thatare involved in the event to
keep that in mind.
I mean, there are some missionstatements that we adhere to.
However, it really is all aboutthe family.
(10:00):
We want to make sure that thefamilies have a great time.
Keep everyone safe.
The family we want to make surethat the families have a great
time.
Keep everyone safe.
But yes, we do have a schedulethat starts at approximately
seven o'clock in the morning,right after sunrise, and it runs
all the way through till eighto'clock at night.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
For three days.
And so I think that's importantto note.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
You know about the structure of the festival and
that you know there isentertainment and things to do
from the moment the gates openuntil they close, because, as
you're well aware, as we're wellaware, you know, what we look
at is oh, it's a beautiful dayoutside Does not necessarily
mean that it's a beautiful dayfor hot air balloons to fly.
That's right.
You know we're feeling theweather on the ground.
(10:36):
Obviously, wind changes thehigher we go.
But I think that's one of thegreat sort of ways that they've
built the Carolina Balloon Festis that, even in the unfortunate
circumstance that balloonscan't take off, you guys will
usually always try to at leastdo an inflation if possible,
right, and then, in the eventthat that doesn't work, there's
still live music and all theother things to keep the family
entertained.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
It's still worth going to, absolutely and really.
The culmination each night isthe balloon glow, and that is
something very special that whenthe balloons light up at night
with a special burner that theyhave, it makes them look like
huge lightning bugs and it'slike a seven-story tall bug.
They just glow and it's abeautiful thing.
Yeah, it's like a seven-storytall bug, they just glow and
(11:17):
it's a beautiful thing.
Yeah, it's cool.
And so the weather team isconstantly monitoring the
weather to see if we can do somesafe operations.
And that's the key.
We want mass ascensions, wewant balloons flying in, we want
to be able to provide thosepassenger rides that people
really have as a bucket listitem to be able to ride in a hot
air balloon.
But if that doesn't happen,we've got music, entertainment,
(11:40):
we've got all kinds of thingsthat they can do and see,
because you've got to rememberthat balloons will take off at
about sunrise and then within acouple hours of sunset, so
there's a lag there in themiddle that we need to entertain
our guests.
Yeah, but you have some tetheredballoon rides throughout the
day we do yes, which is a lot offun, and that's a wonderful
thing.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, and visiting with the balloon pilots.
I see a lot of people doingthat.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Fair food.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Fair food.
Fair food yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Sam, you mentioned your mission.
Talk to us about the board, theCarolina Balloon Charities and
what the mission is and how youguys give back to the community.
I think that's important.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
You know I mentioned before that when I first started
going, the event was actuallycalled the National Balloon
Rally and they changed the name,which I fully supported.
But we have a charity that'scalled National Balloon Rally
Charities and then we dobusiness as the Carolina Balloon
Fest, and so we have missionstatement, points of interest
(12:39):
that I think are vitallyimportant for us, and we keep
this in our minds.
We want to promote ballooning,we want to promote the city of
Statesville, the state of NorthCarolina, but we also want to be
able to give back to localcharities, and so if we're
successful and we're blessedwith good weather, the idea is
(12:59):
to be able to always put back alittle bit of a nest egg so we
can continue this legacy, butthen give money back into the
local charities so they cancontinue to do good things that
they do.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, and in turn I've seen the charities over the
past several months saying youknow, come, help us volunteer
for the.
How many volunteers does ittake to put on a balloon fest?
Speaker 4 (13:21):
As they say, it takes a village, and it's really true
when it comes to putting on anevent like this.
I would say you're looking atapproximately 800 to 900
different volunteers to help putthis on, and it's only for
three days, so there's a wholelot of moving parts behind the
scene.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, both before and after as well, we have a very
passionate community about hotair ballooning.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
It's in our DNA 100%.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, and it's cool because we had the Full Bloom
Film Festival not too long agoand the opening night of that
there was a hot air balloon fluand we've got all these visitors
in from outside of Statesvilleand from across the country and
it's like, oh my gosh, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
And it's always beautiful to see a hot air
balloon.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
But I was talking to some folks that were here from
California and it's like youknow, I was like really that's,
that's not that rare.
I mean, balloon Fest is coolbecause you look up and you
might see 20 or 30 balloons inthere, but to see a hot air
balloon in this area isn't allthat abnormal which is really
cool.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
It is, and that's the history that Tracy Barnes
started in the early 70s andthen Bill Meadows continued by
taking the rally up to LoveValley and then bringing it back
into Statesville was a greatidea that the Chamber of
Commerce did many, many yearsago.
So we want to continue to keepthis festival going for the next
49 and the next 50 years.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Right, yeah, well, we like this Better and better
every year.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
That's exactly it, yes.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
So, speaking about Statesville being a destination
for ballooning, I always say anyday is a day for hot air
ballooning in Statesville.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
With the exception of today, as long as the wind.
With the exception of today, aslong as the wind and the
weather's right A little rainytoday, weather permitting.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
But that's not the only thing you're working on
right.
That's not the only reason youcame back to Statesville.
There's something else Born andraised right here.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
This is my hometown and I couldn't be happier to
come back, not only for theCarolina Balloon Fest, but also
I'm working with a group ofreally passionate investors to
possibly build a museum here, tocreate a destination for people
to come learn about hot airballooning and learn about
Statesville the land has alreadybeen purchased on I-40.
(15:36):
And one day soon, we hope tohave a building out there
standing tall and proudpromoting hot air ballooning and
telling the legacy of TracyBarnes and the history of
ballooning here, not only inStatesville and Arlington County
, but North Carolina.
Yeah, that's amazing.
North Carolina has a vasthistory of ballooning.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Yeah, it's the Carolina Balloon Museum, right.
Carolina Balloon Museum.
Yeah, that's amazing Because.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
North Carolina has a vast history of ballooning.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, it's the.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Carolina Balloon Museum.
Right, carolina Balloon Museum.
Yeah, yep, we've got a logo,we've got land.
Right now we're in theinformation stage.
We're meeting with somesupporters at the state level,
county level, city level, andright before the end of the year
you're going to see kind of amass marketing campaign about
how to go about finishing thisproject Right, and at that time,
(16:20):
is that when you'd start torelease sort of mock-ups and
sketches and things of what thismuseum would look like?
We already have a set of plans,oh that's okay.
We've already gone that far A 3Dmodel.
We have a 3D model and we'rejust trying to do this in the
correct way, not get too farahead of ourselves to build some
groundswell of support.
But, yeah, we're happy to betalking about it and show you
(16:43):
our plans.
We're excited about it.
But we're also excited aboutcreating this as a welcome
center for the city ofStatesville, because it's
literally going to be on theeastern edge of the city as you
come in from, say, moxville orWinston-Salem, so you'll have an
opportunity to come in andlearn all about Statesville as
well.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, very excited about that.
That's amazing.
Yeah, we love it.
So Carolina Balloon Fest isalways the third weekend of
October, right?
It is Keep it simple.
So it's the 18th, 19th and 20th.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
It is.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Are there still some balloon flights available?
Are there still some pilotsthat have flights available?
Speaker 4 (17:20):
There are, and you can learn all about the event at
our website,carolinaballoonfestcom.
But just to kind of back upjust for a minute, we actually
start the rally Friday morningon an unofficial capacity.
Okay, we have balloons flyingall over the city from various
locations and our special shapeswill be here, so it's kind of
an unofficial start, but thenour full official mass ascension
(17:45):
is Friday afternoon.
And, yes, there are some sitesexcuse me, some spots available
for any of the other balloonsthat you can go on our website
and just pick on a balloon andpick on a pilot and that will
tell you whether or not theyhave some availability.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
How many balloons are there this year?
Speaker 4 (18:01):
We have 55.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
That's amazing, that's great 55.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
And that seems to be our sweet spot for the size of
festival grounds that we haveand that's also a great show for
the crowd.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I've got to have room to inflate everybody.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
We do because we want a lot of people out there.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Sure yeah, and still volunteer opportunities too.
Someone wants to go tocarolinaballoonfestcom be a part
of it?
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Absolutely.
We welcome volunteers.
We'll put you to work.
If you want to volunteer, Allyou have to do is just go to the
volunteer page on our websiteand just click on the link that
says I want to volunteer.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, well, not that all that is not exciting enough.
But early on, when we firststarted talking, you said you
have your special gas licenseand I just happened to know that
you just got back from Germanyright, doing something really
cool, and I think our listenerswould like to hear about that
that you, that in your free timeyou went and did this really
(18:57):
cool thing with gas ballooning.
So tell us, tell us about thatadventure you just got back from
.
Well, thank you.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I had already signed up to be the one of the
directors for the Gordon Bennettgas balloon race when Carolina
Balloon Fest hired me.
So I said just remember, I'mgoing to be gone for about 10
days to Germany, but the CoupeAeronautique Gordon Bennett gas
balloon race is the oldest formof aerial aviation racing in the
(19:22):
world.
It goes all the way back to1906.
And I mentioned earlier aboutthe gas balloons that are filled
with helium and hydrogen.
There's always a long-distancerace each year.
In this particular year it tookoff from Münster, germany, and
the winners landed in thesouthern southwest corner of
Portugal, about 2,100 kilometersover three days later.
(19:44):
And it is an extremely,extremely unique sport where
you're basically camping in thesky.
But the rules are very simpleyou all take off from one spot.
Whoever flies the furthest iscrowned the winner.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Camping in the sky?
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Yeah, so camping in the sky.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
As directing of this race.
Are you flying, Are you?
Speaker 4 (20:07):
following them.
Mission Control is basicallyset up a lot like your studio
right here, and we also havewhat's called Gordon Bennett TV,
where we do shows just likethis, and each one of the
balloons have a tracker on themso we can track them, like on
the screen behind us here.
So one of my responsibilitiesis to make sure that all the
(20:28):
pilots can get through all thedifferent airspaces as they
traverse these differentcountries, because they went
from Germany to France, to Spainand then Portugal, and each one
of them has a separate set ofair traffic control measures.
So one of my roles is to makesure that they all get up and
they all get down safely.
This year, we had 21 differentteams from 17 different
(20:51):
countries participating Wow,very cool.
And who won the Austria 2 teamparticipating Wow, very cool.
And who won the Austria 2 team?
Okay, yes, and so that meansthat in two years, the race will
take off from Austria.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
All right.
The United States of America,you'd have a state's old gas
balloon that can win that.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Well mine is a little on the small size.
Mine wouldn't be verycompetitive.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
What size basket are these balloons?
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Well, not much bigger than the table in which they
were sitting behind, and oneside typically has a kick-out
panel to where you can lay on abench and stretch your feet out.
But the way it normally worksis one is taking a nap while the
other pilot is flying, and thenyou switch off every three or
four hours.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Kick-out panel, like the side of the basket, opens up
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
We've got to hang a few.
Cindy would love that.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
So fun fact.
When Richard and I started thispodcast August of 2023, so a
little over a year ago neitherone of us had ever been on a hot
air balloon flight.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Oh well, that's sad yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
We remedied that.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, we remedied.
We actually launched thispodcast midair on Facebook Live.
That's a cool thing, andluckily you couldn't tell that I
was frozen in place.
If the side of the basket wasopen I might not have made it
through.
But I'd go anytime, it was themost amazing experience.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Well then, now that you've done it, let's do it
again, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
We should do like an anniversary podcast.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
There you go, just throwing it out there.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
An anniversary podcast and it's like you say.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
I mean, I had never been in one before and so it's.
I mean, as soon as we wereairborne, it's just like, oh my
God, and when we landed, you'removing with the wind, so it's
very calm, oh yeah, verytranquil.
Speaker 4 (22:30):
It was unbelievable, I mean just silence it was
amazing.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Except for us talking Right.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
And we were up there with Charles Page, right, and we
were up there with Charles Page.
So it was like, if we do freakout, we're up there with Charles
Page.
Like who better to be like, hey, it's going to be okay.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And he'd have to wait , hoping we'd stop talking so he
could goose a little.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
He does have to do that on occasion.
It was great.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, no, it was amazing and I have a severe fear
of heights.
Um, even at the very lastminute, I was trying to figure
out how to crawl out of thebasket and I think I let
michelle hepler get in becauseshe was chasing, so it was just
too much, too difficult to getout.
I'm talking to her and I hadconvinced myself.
I'm like let's switch.
And she's like okay, if that'swhat you want to do and then
(23:32):
she's like oh, balloon, ridenice and then like wait, we're
in the air.
Yeah, and there we were, and itwas it was Very cool.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
If you, if you, if you, if you're listening and
you've never been, go to thewebsite, look up one of those
spots.
Yeah, go ahead and check thatoff the list because it's
worthwhile.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yes, A hundred percent recommend it.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
So is there anything else you want to make sure our
listeners know about?
Carolina Balloon Fest orballooning in general?
Yes, well, as far as CarolinaBalloon Fest is concerned, you
can also buy tickets there.
Okay, and just remember that wehave a free park and ride
facility down at the TroutmanFairgrounds.
So you go down there, there'sno fee to park.
You can get on a bus there's nofee for the bus, and it drops
you right off at the front gateof the Carolina Balloon Fest
main entrance, and then thebuses basically run every 30
(24:21):
minutes all day long, so you canjust leave your car back at the
fairgrounds, get on a bus andleave all the driving to us, and
you don't have to worry aboutgetting in all that traffic.
So that's very easy.
And something else that we'veactually two things that we've
initiated this year that wehaven't, that the organization
hasn't done before, is thatwe've established a pin drop for
(24:43):
Uber and Lyft rideshare.
So if you don't want to driveand you've got somebody that's
going to take you out there forrideshare, we've got a drop off
point and a pickup point.
And then something really cool,because there's other things
that Statesville is known for,and one of them is cycling.
I think you and I were justtalking about that before the
show started.
(25:03):
Something that we're doing newthis year is called Park and
Bike.
So if you're a cyclist, you candrive your vehicle with your
bicycle on it.
Park it at Celeste HinkleSchool, get on your bicycle and
it's a two and a half mile ridedown Bethlehem Road, brings you
in the VIP entrance and we havewhat's called bike valet parking
(25:27):
.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Oh man, that's a great idea, we're definitely
going to help get the word outon that, so then there's no
charge for parking.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Of course you just have to pay your interest fee.
But then there's no charge forparking.
Of course you just have to payyour interest fee.
But then leave your car atCeleste Hinkle, ride your
bicycle in.
You beat all the traffic.
You get valet parking right upfront.
We will watch over your bikewhile you're enjoying the
festival.
When you're ready to leave, getyour bike head on out to your
car.
That's a great idea.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Park and cycle friends.
Great family activity.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Heard it right here from Sam Parks.
I think.
I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
I love that Well, we want to promote that.
This is our first year, sowe're kind of anxious to see how
it goes over.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, yeah, very cool .
Well, you conquered Albuquerque.
We have high hopes for you herein Statesville, Sam.
I'm very excited to be here.
I don't think I home, because Ithink we're blessed.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
We're lucky to have you here.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Well.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
I'm blessed to have a hometown like Statesville.
Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Well, we invite you to Discover Statesville everyone
.
Make sure you don't miss theCarolina Balloon Fest and go to
statesvillenccom to check outall the great things that are
happening in our area.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Thank you, Thanks, sam, thank you all, bye-bye.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Thank you for joining Discover Statesville.
You can email us at discover atstatesvillenccom.
Check us out on Facebook atDiscover Statesville, nc hashtag
Discover Statesville and ourwebsite, statesvillenccom.
Catch us next week as wecontinue on our journey to
uncover the hidden gems,culinary adventures,
entertainment, and to beinspired and enlightened as we
(26:55):
Discover Statesville.
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