Northern Ireland Balloon Festival

A BIG thank you to all who attended the first Northern Ireland Balloon Festival

Hot air balloons flew from the site on Saturday evening and a few on Monday evening. The themed night glows took place on Saturday and Sunday evening and all the Balloon teams had a great time interacting with the public throughout the 3 days.

We share the disappointment that there was not as much hot air balloon action over the Sunday and Monday, but ballooning is a sport that requires the appropriate weather. Unfortunately, we have no control over the weather which deemed to keep these balloons on the ground!

View more pictures on the BBC Northern Ireland Website

Some wonderful photos were taken the weekend which showed there is potential for this new event to be staged again, especially taking on board the comments received from the public, organising committee and balloon teams.

We would like to thank all that attended including members of the public, sponsors, traders, and balloon teams that joined us this year. A special thank you from the Mayors Charity Lisburn Special Olympics, and Make a Wish Foundation who between them collected over £1,800 during the event.

We are looking forward to bringing you the Northern Ireland Balloon Festival again next year and have many ideas to make it bigger and better.

Sincerely,

The Northern Ireland Balloon Festival Team 2011