Art and Air Festival 2016

Photo by Katrina Wilson

 The Art and Air Festival of 2016 was another high-flying success.

Hot air balloons soaring over sunrise stained clouds are an iconic part of summer in Albany, and have been for over 20 years.

The hot air balloons of the Art and Air Festival are a major part of what makes this Albany classic so enticing. From the magic of Night Glow to the majesty of the early morning lift offs, Art and Air wouldn't be the same without them.

Art and Air occurs every year on the third weekend of August. This year’s festivities were Aug. 23 to 28. The festival has everything from live music to art sales, but the balloons are always the main attraction.

Getting up before sunrise is rough, but becomes less rough when you get to see giant hot air balloons getting inflated.

There's good reason behind being an early bird, though. Dawn and dusk are the best times to fly balloons, because the sun hasn't stirred up the winds at that point, and it's much safer to fly.

The owner of the Skydancer Company, Brian Smith, has been flying for over 20 years and has been running Skydancer for three years.

His balloon, “Sundancer” made an appearance among many others on the first day of the festival.

“It's able to hold five average houses worth of air...it's eight stories tall, so to put that into perspective, that's 120,000 basketballs,” said Smith.

Balloons from the festival will often head towards Freeway Lakes for a splashdown, or water landing.

On the second day of the festival, no balloons were able to land in the lakes, but they all landed  just outside Albany, most of them gathering in one large field.

On Aug. 24, balloon launches were cancelled in the morning due to weather concerns, but the people of Albany got one last show of balloons soaring overhead on the final day.

“Ballooning is not a practical form of transportation...it's an adventure,” said Brian Smith.