Crews prepare for 51st Adirondack Balloon Festival

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The 51st annual Adirondack Balloon Festival will soon decorate the North Country sky with a colorful display, while food vendors and live music entertain the crowds down below.

It's floating in for four days of fun, split between Crandall Park in Glens Falls, and the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury. The full schedule details when and where various parts of the spectacle take place from Thursday, September 19 through Sunday, September 22.

Volunteers met up with NEWS10 days in advance for a sneak peek, and inflated a 1996 hot air balloon for a slice of what spectators can enjoy at the festival.

“Most of the folks you see here are members of not only balloon teams, but of our organizing committee," explained the festival's President, Mark Donahue.

If you’ve made the trip to the festival before, you can attend again and be wowed by new balloons. Several special balloons made a cross-continental trip to provide a breath of fresh air to the event.

“Seven balloons are being shipped from Great Britain, believe it or not," Donahue explained, "they're all animal shaped balloons.”

There’s no price to attend, but the merchandise committee creates new designs every year to mark the annual festival, and they hope visitors will purchase a shirt, hat, or pin to take home and remember the day. Organizers said this is crucial to the livelihood of the festival.

“This is what keeps our festival free, so we try to come up with things that'll catch everybody's eye," said Merchandise Committee member Michelle Swinton.

People from all over the northeast will be travel to Warren County for the festivities. It's a boost to the area economy, and something to keep in mind when making your own plans to check it out.

“We love showcasing our beautiful backdrops of the mountain tops," said Heather Bagshaw, Warren County's Director of Tourism. "Come early. Stay late. It does get busy here, so plan accordingly.”