Full House For Balloon Festival

What an event our town saw this Balloon Festival! With a week jam-packed full of activities starting with the Canowindra Street Party, put on by the Canowindra Progress Association. This was followed up by a sold out Flickerfest at Rosnay, a packed house for the Canowindra Public School Trivia night, a great turn out for Val Hood, live music at Canowindra Services Club with Megan Woods on Wednesday night, open gardens across Canowindra raising much needed funds for the Hospital Auxiliary and a record turn out for the Anzac Day commemorations

But things were only just ramping up – the final weekend saw the Friday night live concert with Bjorn Again, the amazing breakfast from the Canowindra Branch of the CWA, the crowd delighting street parade led by Tommy Jeffs, and the Cabonne Community Glow – with over 120 stalls – this year, on the ground activities, kept our visitors and the community entertained.

In the sky, the 22 pilots and their crew skillfully navigated their balloons through social flying, challenges and tasks throughout the week, to the delight of crowds that lined the take off points from 6am and landing areas from 4pm, throughout the eight days of flying.

The increase in crowd numbers was evident with the Canowindra Street Party attracting nearly 3,000 people, the Bjorn Again concert hosting 2,000 patrons and the Cabonne Community Glow reaching attendance of 9,825 people.

The volunteer committee worked tirelessly for months to pull this year together, starting to organise all the activities from July 2023. And straight off the back of this year’s festival, they have already opened applications for the Cabonne Community Glow stall holders, put tickets on sale and also have tickets on sale to the general public for the enLIVEn Friday Night Live Concert with the artist announcement coming soon.

A little known fact about organising and putting on the Balloon Festival week, is the amount of money to run the event. Over $150,000 is budgeted for the week, and that does not include the Friday night concert, this concert is funded and put on by Roundbox Group who’s head office is located in Canowindra. Cabonne Council supports the Cabonne Community Glow with $20,000 sponsorship along with Canowindra Services Club also contributing $20,000 in sponsorship towards the week. That leaves the gap in funding coming from the ticket sales from the Cabonne Community Glow and the stallholder fees. The committee utilise the funds is to spend frugally to ensure the event is sustainable and the budget is kept on track.

This is no mean feat with rising costs on hire equipment, security, insurance, artist fees,NSW police, emergency services, road closures, traffic control, gas prices, accommodation for officials – just to name a few. The committee is also mindful of the rising cost of living and keeping the expense of ticket prices the lowest possible.

The families of the volunteer committee also support with literally hundreds of hours being put in and all the community groups, including Tommy Jeffs who hosted the cocktail party for the balloonists, Central West Throwers, Canowindra Pre School, Canowindra Swim Club, The Masonic Lodge, IGA staff who volunteered their time in several areas, and the friends who came along to help across the week and who make this festival possible, the Canowindra Challenge Incorporated Committee would like to thank you for all your efforts. Without you, this week would not be possible. They would also like to extend a special thank you to all the residents, the community and especially the businesses that served the thousands of people across the week.

The dates for next year’s Balloon Week are 26th April – 4th May 2025.