SEQUIM — The long and long-awaited weekend is just about here: three days when a dozen hot-air balloons will be sprinkled across the sky, and when live music, classic cars and artists converge beneath them on a wide green field.
The Sequim Balloon Festival debuts at first light Saturday, after more than a year of anticipation and sponsor-gathering — and it’s an event organizers hope will rival Sequim’s Lavender Weekend in terms of magnetism.
Above all, of course, are the balloons, ascending en masse from the Sequim Valley Airport, 468 Dorothy Hunt Lane off Old Olympic Highway, soon after 6 a.m. Saturday through Monday, weather permitting.
Colorful orbs
These orbs include the Diamond Sun, piloted by Crystal Stout of Amboy; Miss Guided Intelligence, an extra-large one flown by Colin Graham of Yuma, Ariz.; and the three bumblebee-like balloons, Joelly, Lilly and Joey, whose shepherd is Bob Romaneschi of Peoria, Ariz.
Along with seven others scheduled to appear, these quiet aircraft will preside over the festival site at Grant Field, 792 West Sequim Bay Road (across from the Black Bear Diner and Holiday Inn Express).
Festival tickets, which cover all of the activities down on the field, range from $19 for a single day or $29 for the three-day pass, while children 11 and younger will be admitted free with adult ticket holders.
For those who want to take a hot-air balloon ride over the Dungeness Valley, it’s $250 per person.
A pre-festival concert by Rare Earth is scheduled at 7 tonight. For details, see Peninsula Spotlight, the Peninsula Daily News’ weekly entertainment guide, in today’s paper.
Abundant details and tickets are at www.SequimBalloonFestival.com and at the Grant Field gates today through Monday.
Weekend’s activities
Here’s an overview of activities for festival-goers.
■ “Hot Gas & Gears” Car Show, a display of street rods, trucks and classic cars beside the Grant Field reflecting pond, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
■ “Artists of Elegance” arts and crafts show, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday.
■ Live jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, bluegrass and country music, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday.
■ Street dances with live music at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 1:30 p.m. Monday.
■ “Twilight in the Olympics” Night Glow, a lineup of lighted balloons beside the reflecting pond around 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
■ The Kids’ Corral, with children’s activities, will welcome youngsters and their families from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday.
■ Rides will be offered in the tethered RE/MAX balloon from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday for donations, to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
■ Michael Glen, the pilot of Baby Bee Joelly who at age 31 became the world’s first paraplegic hot-air balloon pilot, will give a free motivational speech at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Holiday Inn Express, 1441 E. Washington St.
■ The “Balloon Up” food court and the “Social Medium” wine and beer garden will be open from 10 a.m. until about 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday.
■ A scenic VolksMarch walk — your choice of 5, 10 or 21 kilometers — will start at John Wayne Marina, 2577 West Sequim Bay Road, Saturday morning. Participants — and their dogs if they like — can set out any time between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and take the Olympic Discovery Trail, which winds past festival activities, mountain views and geocaching sites. The walk is organized by the Olympic Peninsula Explorers Volkssport Club, which can be reached at 360-697-2172.
Across the Dungeness Valley, of course, residents can enjoy the sight of the hot-air balloons rising, soon after the sun.
Randall Tomaras, executive director of the Sequim Balloon Festival, offered a tip to those who would welcome a balloon landing on their property.
If you have a crop- and livestock-free field, put a big white cloth out on it, Tomaras said; that’s a signal to balloonists that you’re OK with them descending at your place.
Reflecting pond
By Thursday, Tomaras was deep into yet another festival facet: building the Grant Field reflecting pond.
It’s to be a football-field-size mirror, made of water from the city of Sequim.
Reflecting on the many months of preparation, Tomaras said the Sequim Balloon Festival has been quite the learning experience.
“This is the first year; there are always trials and tribulations,” he said.
Tomaras hopes to expand his support base across the region — though it has proved difficult to attract sponsors from outside the Sequim area.
“There’s still quite a rivalry between Port Angeles, Port Townsend and Sequim,” he said.
Yet the balloon festival, Tomaras summarized, is all for “one reason: tourism on the Olympic Peninsula.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
