5th Annual Balloon Festival

WHEN? Saturday · June 19

WHERE? Foley, Alabama · find us on the map


We stopped in briefly Friday morning before all the booths and vendors were set up. Despite our early arrival, the hot air balloons had already come and gone by that time. A helpful vendor explained that they missed the soccer field where they were supposed to land after being blown off course by the prevailing southeasterly winds, and some ended up on the road and even in peoples' back yards. We looked around a bit and took a few antique tractor photos, then returned home in anticipation of seeing balloons on the following morning ...

And we weren't disappointed! Today was better, and we saw quite a few balloons land at the festival's correct destination site. We got photos of the balloons and met four friends there. I'm guessing that at least 30+ balloons were involved in this festival. By using the brochure/schedule for this year's festival, it seems like at least the following was true:

State of Origin / Number of Balloons

Alabama · 7

Florida · 3

Georgia · 5

Kentucky · 1

Louisiana · 6

Mississippi · 6

Missouri · 2

Tennessee · 1

Texas · 2

Total Identified: 33

There were at least two balloons we could not identify and possibly some we identified wrong.

After that, the six of us gathered at the Magnolia River Bar & Grill for a yummy breakfast cooked by Bob. Since we don't expect to return tomorrow for the festival's final day, we'll miss the Frisbee Dogs' scheduled performance.

See our photos on flickr:

5th Annual Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival

The website for the festival is very informative with a schedule of events and an audio that comes on after you are on the site for a little while.

Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival