Saskatoon Balloon Festival

It was late spring when I heard that Sundance was planning a festival in Saskatoon in conjunction with the annual Canada Remembers Airshow. I had heard mention that Saskatoon was a very beautiful city and was surrounded by farmland with wide open landing spots. Being a big fan of airshows I thought that combining ballooning with the airshow would be an excellent way of spending my summer ballooning trip. This event would also allow me the opportunity to flying over a built up area while logging some serious flight time in a short period of time.

The application process was smooth and without complications as Sundance has a well heeled group that do this kind of thing on a regular basis. The event would be sponsored by the airshow and organized by Sundance. Local pilots Malcom McLeod and Marvin Schultz, who both fly commercial for Sundance, would take on the duties of organizing the crew, maps, propane and other various items needed for a balloon event. Dale Ritchie would take on the responsibility of checking the weather, calling the launch sites, coordinating with the airshow organizers and airport communications. Lory, Birgit, Carrie and Guy helped out with paperwork, crew assignments and various other duties that kept Dale focused on the event.

The base of operations would be the Saskatoon Inn. An excellent facility situated less than a kilometer from the airport where the airshow was being held. The Inn had everything you would need including a Sunday Brunch that was second to none. The Inn is situated on Circle Drive a major thoroughfare in Saskatoon so getting around was relatively easy. Refueling took place at the Husky in the northwest part of town.

Thursday was an early morning getaway from Calgary as I was more than eager to leave the big city behind and get out into the wide-open countryside. The seven hour drive would get us into Saskatoon around 4 PM with lots of time to get settled and registered before the 8 PM Initial Briefing. Eleven balloons had signed up for the event. From Calgary we had Jamie Kinghorn, Glenn Ulveland, Richard Clark, Dale Ritchie, Fred Harrison and myself. Also in attendance, from Rolling Hills AB was Jack Bailey and from Standard AB were Connie and Andy Schulthess. Making the drive from Winnipeg was Martial Jacques. Rounding out the group were the two locals Marvin Schultz and Malcom McLeod (Regina). All included we had the makings of a fun little festival the likes that Saskatoon had never seen.

Friday morning, first flight, and everyone was ready to take to the skies. The winds were moderate from the south so we all headed down to Diefenbaker Park near Exhibition Park in the south end of town. Yeah, we were positioning ourselves in the south end of town so we could fly over the whole city, something I hadn’t seen in Calgary for some time. The flight would take us straight down the center of town from south to north. On this morning the hare balloon would be the SaskTel balloon piloted by Malcom. The only balloon to come close to the hare on this flight would be Double Diamond piloted by Connie Schulthess. I myself had resigned to a pure fun flight very early on in the proceedings. I ended up landing in the same field as Fred and Richard and eventually caught up with Marvin and his crew and passengers for the post flight celebrations.

Friday evening was the media flight. This time we launched from Kinsmen Park just along the west side of the South Saskatchewan River right next to downtown Saskatoon. Once again the flight took us north and this time we landed in a scrub field after missing the hare balloon. This time we had close to ten balloons and crews together for the post flight celebration. A good time was had by all.

Saturday morning was touch and go as to whether the conditions were acceptable for a flight. Overcast skies and calm winds threatened to ground the balloons for the first time in the event. On the advice of the "local guy" Marvin we proceeded once again to Kinsmen Park to check conditions on the field. The call was made and we proceeded to color the skies once again. This time the winds were very light and out of the northwest up high and southwest down low. Many balloons made landings in the city while Malcom and I made it into fields just south of Circle Drive. Once again I hooked up with the CTV balloon and their passengers for the post flight bubbly. No one came close to the hare balloon on this morning.

Saturday afternoon was our time to watch some other pilots do their stuff. The balloon event staff, crew and pilots all received PERFORMER passes that could get us through the gate and pretty much anywhere else you wanted to go. This even included parking not 50 meters from the SnowBirds lineup and access to tents with food and drinks. Unfortunately, soon after the start of the show, the rains came and they cancelled the show for Saturday. Needless to say we experienced our first balloon cancellation of the event.

Sunday dawned once again with questionable conditions as the ceiling was slowly closing in and the winds were gusting up to 10 knots. The call was made and we proceeded to a launch field on the east side of town near an industrial area. Shortly after the hare lifted off we got the signal and off we went. This would be the fastest flight of the weekend with speeds up to 10 knots on landing. We flew from east to west almost directly over the hotel and close to the end of the main runway at the airport. I picked a black field to land in but ended up being too high to make the landing. I flew on to an even tighter field and squeaked a fast landing in. The landowner was great so we had our celebration with him and his family and proceeded on to the refueling location just down the road.

Day two for the airshow and the ceiling was much better this time. Once again we had excellent access and all the food you could eat. Too bad I did the Sunday Brunch at the hotel. This time the show proceeded with most acts performing their "low show" routine. All except the monster trucks of course. The monster trucks were Raymond’s favorite part of the trip to Saskatoon. The SnowBirds put on a stellar performance in spite of the light rain showers near the end of the day. Needless to say the Sunday evening flight was a wash and all the flying was done for the weekend.

In closing, I would like to say that I, for one, will definitely be back. I hope the event continues on for many years to come. I heard nothing but positive comments from the other pilots and crew. I would like to thank the organizers for a wonderful weekend and I would also like to thank my awesome crew Connie, Pat Terry and Wally.