Hot air balloons to take flight three times during 2007 Bushwhacker Days weekend

By Lynn A. Wade

Nevada Daily Mail

The annual Bushwhacker Days celebration is just around the corner, and once again a baker's dozen of hot air balloons will be at the Nevada Municipal Airport to take to the skies three times -- Saturday, at 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday at 6 a.m.

Sunrise flights are popular with balloonists -- winds are typically calm in the morning and the whole day's ahead of them for their flight and landing.

Last year was the first time since the hot air balloons event joined Bushwhacker Days five years ago that the launches had to be called off due to inclement weather, but launch coordinator Tedd Maxfield -- who will add his own balloon to the baker's dozen visiting to make it a field of 14 balloons --is confident that this year, at least two, and perhaps all of the planned launches will occur.

"Several years ago, somebody did a historical study to find the dates that were the most consistent, over time, in being advantageous for ballooning. It happens that it's the third week in June; we're just lucky that Bushwhacker Days happens to fall on that weekend," Maxfield said.

Appropriate weather means a light wind, and preferably no thunderstorms within a broad radius of the launch site. "Thunderstorms, as they approach, can really have some dangerous downdrafts we would want to avoid," Maxfield said.

The event is very popular with local residents, who remember funny stories from past balloon launches, from "oohs" and "ahhhs" and people pointing toward the sky as balloons passed over the Square in 2005, to tales of a balloon that accidentally came a little too close for comfort to the field and fans at Lyons Stadium, during a Nevada Griffons game that same year.

It's also popular with the balloonists, Maxfield said, noting that the pilots come back to the Bushwhacker Days event again and again, because it's a pilot-friendly event. Last year, one of the pilots struggled with whether to come to Bushwhacker Days or to attend a family reunion set for the same weekend. "The family won out, but they're definitely coming this year," Maxfield said.

Only one pilot from the inaugural event hasn't returned, and that's because health problems have meant he's flown very little since that event, Maxfield said.

Renovations may be under way at the airport, so parking may be at a premium this year, Maxfield said. Parking along the airport's access road will be available, but Maxfield suggests some might want to carpool to the airport. Also, motorists are reminded to leave an access lane so that balloonists and other spectators can come and go.

"You can walk right out to where the balloons are going to be. You can really get up close to them," Maxfield said.