Waikato Business News | March 1, 2024

20 BALLOONS OVER WAIKATO
MARCH 2024
Shaping history
25 year Anniversary
Hot air balloons have fascinated
Kiwis since the arrival of the
first one from America in
January 1889 in Dunedin.
‘Professor Baldwin’ as he was known,
took to the skies in silent grandeur in
a yellow oiled-silk balloon which was
inflated by coal gas. This flight, the first
of its kind in New Zealand, began trips
by other touring American balloonists,
and included as many women as it did
men.
The ‘aerialists’ as they were known,
began with the at-times hazardous
process of filling the balloon with hot
air using coal fire, before performing
acrobatic stunts on a trapeze suspended
under the balloon, and usually ended
with a death-defying parachute descent.
Never known to be backward in
being adventure adrenaline junkies even
back then, intrepid New Zealanders
were keen to give it a go. The first
was David Mahoney (‘Captain Charles
Lorraine’), who unfortunately drowned
on November 2 1899 when he was
caught out by a south-west change
and his balloon ended up in the sea
outside Lyttelton Harbour. Other early
Kiwi balloonists included Bob Murie and
Noah Ezra Jonassen.
Times have since changes and
modern day balloons are both much
safer and are powered differently than
they once were.
From the early 1960s, nylon fabrics
and butane burners gave the sport a
serious rejig and in the next decade
adventurers took to the skies across
Cook Strait and over Aoraki/Mt Cook
and the Southern Alps for the first time.
While they used to be a standard
round shape tapering toward the
basket end, these days the brightly
coloured balloons can be four to nine
storeys high, and often take fantastic
shapes such as giant animals and birds,
buildings or cartoon characters.
Two of the 20 balloons that will
feature at this year’s Balloons over
Waikato event are these.
“We are looking forward to
introducing you to Farmer Pig and Bila
the Baby Polar Bear,” Event Manager
Michele Connell says.
The Farmer Pig is one of the world’s
largest pigs standing at 36 metres tall
and weighs 226 kgs and was built in
2005 in Brazil.
Indiana-based Jordan Cox is the
pilot of Farmer Pig, is a private and
commercial pilot, and has flown fly
a few different shapes like a giant
scarecrow and a one-eyed monster
before purchasing Farmer Pig in 2020.
The second special shaped balloon
is Bila the Baby Polar Bear. She is a
Kubicek and in Czech language, Bila
means white. Pilot Doug Grime’s
daughter came up with her name
Bila, as her nana’s name was Beulah.
Owned and operated by Doug and
Patty Grimes from Albuquerque USA,
both are commercial balloon pilots and
owners of Discover Balloons, a balloon
souvenir business. They spend their
time travelling the US selling souvenirs
at balloon events as well as flying one of
their four special shape balloons. This
is the third time they have attended
Balloons over Waikato with one of their
Special Shape Balloons.
We’d love to see you.
There’s always something to do, see, eat, drink and
love when you visit Hamilton’s city centre.
lovethecentre.co.nz
Congratulations Balloons over Waikato for 25 years in the air.