National Balloon Classic Proves to Be a Great Family Outing in the Midwest

If you are planning a trip within the Midwest in the future, a great annual summer event in the town of Indianola, Iowa is the National Balloon Classic. Held annually in mid-summer, the classic is a week long family event with plenty of shelf life, you'll want to revisit it year after year. Included in the fun for everyone is a great close up photo opportunity of the huge hot air balloons that make this event such a treat. Dawn and dusk balloon flights, pilot competitions, music, kids games, beer and food are all the make up of this family event.

If you are an early bird or think you could try it for at least one morning a great time to check out the National Balloon Classic is around 6:30 a.m. In the morning hours the weather is normally ideal for flights. Early times are when the pilots compete in different tasks and challenges from the events held in the evenings. The spotlight is more on showmanship and single competitions like pole grabs, which is where the pilots move their balloons closely to a pole to try and grab a ribbon or band. Issues of safety and excellence in piloting are monitored by the Meister and his or her assistants.

The Meister as you may guess is the person in charge of the ballooning events at the Classic. The meister is nominated by a group of fellow balloon pilots called the Pilot Relations Committee. The Meister is in charge of deciding when or not the balloons will be able to hit the air by checking for weather dangers. Being a good representative of ballooning, he or she is a seasoned safe pilot and plans tasks for the balloon pilot competitions.

In the evening around 6:30 and later are night flights and night glows. In the night flights the first pilot to leave the ground with their balloon is announced and then it's more a question of who's next as one by one the balloons fill with hot air and take off into the night sky. The wind direction decides the type of eye appeal the night and morning flights will have. Sometimes the balloons will fly right over the heads of the audience.