24 November 2009

More Balluminaria


We went to Balluminaria again this year, and the weather was better, so the crowd was bigger. How do I know this? By the very scientific observation that we arrived sooner this year, and parked farther away.

The event involves the lighting of Hot Air Balloons around Mirror Lake in Eden Park. It lasts from 4 pm to 6 pm with the sun setting around 5:30 pm.

When we arrived not all the balloons were up. The only concession stand I saw was totally slammed (for a veteran move, bring your own food). They also had a brass band playing just north of the lake:

For a while there was a nice Toddler mosh pit around the brass band.

This is the event where I came up with a new term. Photog Widow, this is the spouse of someone who deserts the family to get pictures of an event, and it described my poor wife. She however didn't seem to mind (and I did ask permission first). The event is kind of one big photo opportunity, and they give you a countdown to when all the balloons fire up. Luckily this happens multiple times. Here was my best shot this year:


I really like this event, but getting there is always an exercise in frustration. It's a shame the rails hidden under the median on Gilbert don't still carry streetcars, it would be a great way to get there. I hope they add additional concession stands in the future, though my take-away is to bring your own food or, gosh, go a whole 2 hours without eating!

A local photographer put together a really nice time-lapse video of the event, focused on the balloons. It is a testament to the fabulous visuals that I didn't even mind the way overused soundtrack. I'd even go so far to say it worked really well with the video.

1 comment:

5chw4r7z said...

I'm not gonna say I've been to everyone of these since moving to Cincinnati, but that was the biggest crowd I've seen. No chance of getting the preferred photo spots.

Photog Widow! LOL, I'll stop for a picture anywhere anytime and its funny to look up and see Ms. 5chw4r7z a half a block away and still talking to me.
Of course she never finds this amusing but still puts up with me with little more than an eye roll these days.