DO YOU LOVE HOT AIR BALLOONS, CORNWALL AND FUN? THIS BALLOON FESTIVAL IS ON FOR TWO DAYS IN JULY
The Chinese are credited with inventing the hot air balloon during their Three Kingdoms era around 200AD. These ‘Kongming lanterns’ were unmanned, however, and they were pretty much exclusively used for military signalling at the time. Much later, however, in 1783, the French invented the manned hot air balloon when the first-ever free flight carrying a human happened in the skies above Paris. Made of paper and silk, this incredible mode of airborne transport was launched into popular culture and, even in a world where rockets, satellites, fast planes and helicopters abound, the hot air balloon still holds much fascination today.
Did that whet your whistle enough for the Cornwall Balloons and Tunes Festival 2022, organised by Rowlands Events? Get up, up and away at this inaugural balloon fest at Stithians Showground near Penryn, Falmouth and Truro on both Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 July. Featuring up to 15 hot air balloons that should marvel both kids and adults like they marvelled the Parisians who saw that first flight almost 240 years ago, this fest should be a must-visit for all balloon enthusiasts.
Organisers say that visitors will enjoy an array of ‘special-shaped’ balloons that are ‘ready to take to the sky’ in a ‘mass launch’ on both days of the big event. They also say that festival-goers should expect the balloons to be tethered on the ground during other periods on both the Saturday and the Sunday. Each day will also end with a ‘night glow show’, where the balloon pilots will perform a ‘fantastic’ lit-up feat with, hopefully, the bright moon as the backdrop.
Also enjoy a whole host of live music over the weekend from tribute acts doing anything from Elvis, Elton John and Ed Sheeran to Dua Lipa and Dolly Parton. And go Jurassic at a ‘dinosaur world’ where you can get close to a seven-foot monster ‘if you dare’. There’s a whole host of family fun at this new festival, as well as a plethora of local food and drink options, a giant fun fair, a range of craft stalls and, for the grown-ups, a big bar serving beers and cocktails. Spot, if you can, some of the famous superheroes and film characters wandering around the site at this unique event in Cornwall. We hope it’ll become a regular fest, in fact. The sky’s the limit for this one.