The Centralia Balloon Fest had the Darth Vader hot air balloon this year. The sponsor reached out to us for an appearance with the balloon. We, or course, obliged. The Fest had a Balloon Glow scheduled for Saturday night, so we set up the troop. Troopers from all around came: Chicago, Kentucky, Indiana, and the rest of the state of Illinois.
We arrived at 5 pm, suited up, and were escorted via golf cart to the entrance of the festival. There, we escorted the balloon into the festival in a parade, marching out in front of the truck, Imperial March blaring. The crowd was going insane. We finally made it to the staging area, parked the truck, and posed for pictures with the crowd. The balloon was scheduled to blow up at 7 for the glow. At about 6:40 PM, it started to rain. At this point, we went back in to await clearer skies and word of whether or not we were still going to see the balloon blow up. By the time we made it back inside, it was cancelled. Some troopers went back out as the rain lightened and posed for more pictures, but there never was a ballon to pose with.
At this point, we talked with the sponsors, and they said it was scheduled to lift off at 6:30 AM the next morning. We made arrangements to communicate in the morning to try and catch it. The next morning at 5:30 AM, that was scrapped too.
While the balloon was scrapped, and a disappointment, the rest of the troop was pretty great. People were so excited to see us, and the sponsors were very appreciative. It was still a success, despite the ballon.
TROOPERS: 11 total (7 MWG) x 2 hours = 22 Hours Trooped. No donation made.
Patrick Lewis TK 52809
Eric Werner TK 41551
Kevin Glass TK 2834
Brad Harstock TK 1397
Brian VanHorn TK 69581
Jonathan Sylvester DZ 12180
Chad Collins SL 6876
We also had troopers from Indiana and Kentucky come in. Thank you to EVERYONE who came up and trooped. It was a great turnout.
08/22/2015 Centralia Balloon Fest - Darth Vader Balloon
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Re: 08/22/2015 Centralia Balloon Fest - Darth Vader Balloon
ToD updated. Too bad the Vader balloon didn't fly but it still sounds like a great time!