Festival balloon race

By LIZ MAPLES
Staff Writer

It looked promising, but as lift-off time neared, so did dark clouds. 
No Great American Balloon Race this year.
This was Bob and Peggy Potter’s first time at the race and the Great American Brass Band Festival. The pair came from Marco Island, Fla., to enjoy the festivities. 
When they awoke Sunday, they said the clouds didn’t look promising. But the afternoon brought with it blue skies, and there was a full crowd about 6 p.m., waiting for the balloons.
By 7:15 p.m. like the rest of the crowd, the Potters had fled the airport looking for shelter from the storm and the pilots began turning in their grass seed, used to mark their place in the race. 
Joyce Naylor and her grandchildren, Britany, Clifford and Kelcey Helm, came from Stanford to watch the view. 
They planned to cheer when the hot air balloons lifted off. 
“If they go up,” Naylor said. 
She had good reason to doubt. 
Organizers had thought that the showers would be light and pass quickly, but that didn’t happen. 
The balloons can only fly at dawn and dusk and have to be on the ground by nightfall, about 9 p.m. this time of year. Some of the pilots thought they would fly anyway if the rain cleared by 8:15 p.m. They need 45 minutes to make a flight worthwhile. 
By 8:15 p.m., though, it was still raining. The caterers were called, the pilots were fed, but the crowd had all gone home. 

This story ran in the Advocate on June 16, 2003.