Balloons add light to perfect night

FIRST YEAR

We’re always trying to think of creative events and activities to draw families in. We’ve had this idea for the last three years and I just decided to start the process about a year ago.”

Julie Hohl, co-owner Harvestville Farms

DONNELLSON – It was a postcard moment for Lee County Saturday night near Donnellson.
A perfect 8 p.m. Midwest cloudless sunset was the backdrop to the first balloon glow in the county for close to a decade. And it came off without a hitch at Julie's and Adam Hohl’s Harvestville Farms a couple miles east of the city on Hwy. 2.
The idea started a few years, back but Julie said they “didn’t know what they didn’t know” so it took a while to get the event up and running.
The 1,000 people who bought tickets and just hung out in lawn chairs playing makeshift lawn games with hay wagons proved the effort was clearly worth it.
Just using social media, the Hohl’s sold 1,000 tickets in less than a month, indicating people were excited to see the event return.
A balloon glow used to be held in Fort Madison along the riverfront and then it later moved to Rodeo Park. That event faded away over the past few years.
“Adam and I took our kids to it and we loved it. We’re always trying to think of unique family events we can have at the farm. We started talking about this a couple years ago and we met with some people that had done it in Fort Madison,” Julie said.
“We’re always trying to think of creative events and activities to draw families in. We’ve had this idea for the last three years and I just decided to start the process about a year ago.”
She found a contact through Quincy University, which has its own balloon glow in September each year.  
“We found a great contact in Quincy. They do a glow in September, and they have been doing it forever. They were so helpful and put me in contact with this hot air pilot. He’s been a pilot for 30 years and he helps organize these,” she said.
That pilot was Ray Wilson, and Wilson meandered through the crowds calling out for things like flicker blows and long blows where pilots pull down on burners to release flames  generating hot air through the mouth into the envelope, or balloon.
“Hohl said Wilson was a key to the event’s success.
“He has been delightful. He connected with us pilots because you don’t know what you don’t know.”
This year’s event featured five hot air balloons, several of which came from Illinois. The balloons set up about 200 yards north of Hwy. 2 on the east side of the Harvestville farm property near the corn maze.
The event didn’t allow for balloon rides this year, but Hohl said that could be part of the event in the future.
“Wilson said once you do this you’re going to be hooked and you’ll want to do this every year. But we thought for our first year let’s just do a glow. It’s a possibility in the future,” she said.
“Everything’s come together so beautifully, weather is great, there’s no strong winds, and we have a beautiful sunset,” she said. “We would love to build on this year.”