Monument Valley to host 2nd balloon festival February 24-26th, free and open to the public.
Pilot and crew prepare for acension in Monument Valley, 2011. (Sam Tsosie/2011)
Weekly Edition | February 16th, 2012 | By: Sam Tsosie
Next weekend, Monument Valley will host its 2nd Annual balloon event, from February 24-26th. Last year the Monument Valley balloon festival was held in early April, with 15 pilots invited. The spring winds didn’t allow for much flight time. This year the event has been moved to February, the cold-crisp air and light breezes allow pilots to explore the sky safely.
20 pilots are registered to fly over Monument Valley. This year, there are no Navajo pilots.
Event Coordinator, Geri Hongeva, and a committee of 10 people have been planning the festival for 5 months.
“We expect a good turnout for this event, mainly because we have plenty of entertainment, youth activities on Friday and Saturday. Along with the morning launches and nightly glows, we should have well over 4,000 people. There’s lots to do and a good schedule for the youth on Friday.” said Geri.
The event is spread out over three days, with Friday kicking off the festivities, and also being designated ‘Youth Day’. Morning launch will begin at 630AM on all three mornings. Both Friday and Saturday night will have Night Glow Shows.
When asked about what affect this event may have on the Navajo people and area, Geri responded, “The Balloon Event brings the sport of hot air ballooning to Navajo country and its people. The average Navajo family may not have the resources to travel to balloon festivals but to bring the balloon event locally to Monument Valley allows more families to enjoy without an admission fee, costs and etc. The unique features of this event is the entertainment will be Navajo talents and entertainers. The entertainment seen at our event is very different from most hot air balloon events.”
More information can be found at http://www.navajonationparks.org/htm/MVBallonEventInfo.html.
