By Anita Blatnik
Correspondent
Jim Phillips shared a dream a few years ago with his friends Kathy Lester-Ross and David Ross and, before long, all three Waterford residents started planning for the community’s first hot air Balloon Festival, which launched in 2011.
Back then, in the planning stages, no one could foresee the reality that Phillips’ dream would become.
Lester-Ross, a balloon pilot since 1991, noted that since 2012, more than 20,000 people typically participate in Waterford’s Balloon Festival, and the estimated economic impact exceeds $1 million annually for the local economy.
“For a small town of 5,400, that’s pretty good!” she said.
Aside from the positive attention the Balloon Festival brings to Waterford, Lester-Ross said she is proud of the family-friendly nature the event is able to maintain, and even grow.
On the evening of July 20, Integrity Funeral Services sponsored a helium balloon release, and at dusk, the balloon crew coordinated a ground-level balloon glow.
Sunday morning, July 20, Mother Nature graciously permitted the crew the joy of what would be the sole balloon launch of the weekend. Earlier launches hoped for on Friday and Saturday were canceled this year due to unfavorable winds.
But there was so much good stuff going on all day Saturday.
These activities included a Punt, Pass, and Kick competition, Lions Club Car Show, a petting zoo, helicopter rides, square dancing and a Lego presentation.
Also, Waterford-area groups set up booths to fill the Evergreen Elementary School playground area, and various crafters displayed their wares in tents set up on the hill adjacent to Waterford Union High School’s soccer field.
Lester-Ross estimated that a handful of festival volunteers worked 500-600 hours – just to make advance arrangements for the event, like securing bouncy houses for the kids, setting up rope fencing where needed, helping to find people able to manage parking for an overflow of cars, and much more behind-the-scenes time and effort.
The Waterford community’s generosity did not stop with just the volunteers who made the event possible, however.
Raising awareness for Alzheimer’s disease was the main reason that Waterford Senior Living set up an informational booth, said Misty Donnellan, who was assisting there Saturday afternoon.
KK Photography’s “Say Cheese for Charity” campaign was another exhibitor of goodwill. Every year, KK Photography founder Kathy Kohl has charged only $5 for a professional portrait in a hot air balloon basket. One of those dollars covers the cost of printing, and the rest goes directly to the food pantry run by Community United Methodist Church.
Mark Wittmann, founder of a craft business named “Have Board Will Travel” placed a container among his individually crafted cribbage boards and games with a sign: “Accepting donations for guide dogs for the blind.” Wittmann explained he keeps the charitable container out to honor his wife, who passed away in October.
Other crafters at the festival with unique offerings included “Wearable Art – Huggable Friends” by Laura McGarvey; “Initials Trees,” Roger Mobeck; “DK Toys,” DeWayne and Deanna King; and “The Scarf Connection,” Erin and Steve Whalen, to name just a few.
The Waterford Balloon Festival mainly used the grounds of Waterford Union High School, Evergreen Elementary School and Fox River Middle School. The Waterford Recreation Program and the school systems were so cooperative with everything, Lester-Ross said.
Overcome by it all, Lester-Ross remarked: “Three years ago, this was Jim Phillips’s dream.”
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