{"id":1254,"date":"2013-06-10T08:22:30","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T12:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2013-06-09T22:27:04","modified_gmt":"2013-06-10T02:27:04","slug":"chester-county-balloon-festival-poised-to-soar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=1254","title":{"rendered":"Chester County Balloon Festival poised to soar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annual, crowd-pleasing event to be held at Plantation Field Friday, Saturday<\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/h1>\n
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By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The balloon glow always offers great photo opportunities for visitors to the Chester County Balloon Festival, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Plantation Field in Unionville.<\/p><\/div>\n

A popular, quintessential Chester County event is about to take flight: The 2013 Balloon Festival., a colorful, family-friendly outing with more than 20 balloons, including some in special shapes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This year\u2019s festival will be held at Plantation Field in Unionville on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, gates will open at 5 p.m. with a balloon launch scheduled for 6 p.m. \u2013 winds and weather permitting \u2013 and a balloon glow at 9 p.m. On Saturday, entrance starts at 3 p.m., with musical entertainment by Levi Road at 4 p.m. and Jake\u2019s Rockin\u2019 Country Band at 6 p.m.; a mass balloon launch is also set for 6 p.m., culminating in a balloon glow at 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

Admission is $10 per car at the gate, with some activities requiring additional fees.\u00a0 The coveted Victory Brewing Company VIP Party is already sold out, but opportunities still exist for balloon rides, another frequent sellout that must be booked in advance.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Balloons<\/a>

Balloons in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors are expected to delight crowds at the 2013 Chester County Balloon Festival.<\/p><\/div>\n

Deb Harding, the pilot in charge of the balloons and also one of\u00a0the organizers, said she is excited about the new venue as well as this year\u2019s landowner appreciation raffle. She explained that because balloons are dependent on the wind, pilots appreciate having multiple landing options. To encourage people to welcome the balloons, each landowner where a balloon touches down will receive a bottle of champagne \u2013 a tradition that dates back to France in the 1700s \u2013 as well as a raffle ticket for a chance to win a magnificent gift basket.<\/p>\n

Harding said thanks to the generosity of supporting businesses, so far the basket is worth about $1,000 and contains items such as a $50 bottle of champagne from Maki Winery; 10 free tasting coupons from the Chaddsford Winery,\u00a0 a balloon flight for two from Air Ventures worth $400,\u00a0a $200 discount coupon from the Decorating Den,\u00a0a free A\/C tune up from Horizon Services, wine glass jewelry from Paparazzi Glamour Girl,\u00a0 dinner for two at either the Firecreek Restaurant and Bar in Downingtown or Four Dog Tavern in Marshallton, and framed photos from Photographic Art.<\/p>\n

Landowners who would like to experience the thrill of having a balloon land on their property should \u00a0spread an old bedsheet, cloth, or large paper marked with an \u201cX\u2019\u201d or \u201cOK to land here\u201d on the lawn or field, \u00a0or tie helium balloons to their mailbox, Harding said.<\/p>\n

Plantation Field is located on Green Valley Road, just off of Rt 82, west of Kennett Square. For more information, visit http:\/\/www.ccballoonfest.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Annual, crowd-pleasing event to be held at Plantation Field Friday, Saturday\u00a0 By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times A popular, quintessential Chester County event is about to take flight: The 2013 Balloon Festival., a colorful, family-friendly outing with more than 20 balloons, including some in special shapes. This year\u2019s festival will be held at Plantation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6,7],"tags":[1096,1097,1098,1099,1100,1101,1102,1103,1104,623],"class_list":["post-1254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-events","category-featured","tag-2013-chester-county-balloon-festival","tag-air-ventures","tag-chaddsford-winery","tag-deb-harding","tag-horizon-services","tag-jakes-rockin-country-band","tag-levi-road","tag-maki-winery","tag-plantation-field","tag-victory-brewing-company"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}