PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Crown of Maine Balloon Fest last weekend brought 14 hot air balloons, thousands of happy visitors, good weather, street music and a new relationship linking Alabama with Aroostook County.
Locals and visitors from places including Massachusetts and Pennsylvania celebrated summer in Presque Isle, drawn by hot air balloons launching from the fairgrounds and floating east.
“It was great,” said Megan Stanley of her flight on the Raspberry Ripple, a balloon piloted by Derald Young of Dixfield. Stanley, the fest’s crew and pilot coordinator and a special education teacher for SAD 32, landed around the Parkhurst Siding Road, while others landed around Fort Fairfield.
Among the 14 pilots, the “pilot of the year” award went to Doug Shippee, one of Canada’s original hot air balloonists and the country’s oldest licensed pilot, at age 86.
Shippee worked for the Carnaghan Taylor Insurance in Saint John, but he pursued hot air ballooning the way some Mainers do their boats, with a passion. He helped popularize hot air ballooning in Canada after discovering it himself, the year after the first successful transatlantic flight from Presque Isle to France.
In 1979, visiting Florida, Shippee “found out there was a festival going on in Sarasota,” he said. “I went out and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I knew I had to get into ballooning. I bought a balloon that day. I’ve brought it back to Canada and it’s grown ever since,” he said.
“It’s a good life,” he said of hot air ballooning in this part of North America. “We love Canada, but our favorite place in the United States is right here in Presque Isle.”
Among the other pilots and revelers were Tammy Wright of Presque Isle and a longtime festival pilot, Joel Jones of northern Alabama.
“I love being up here so much that I’ve married into the community,” said Jones, the pilot of the Wind Spirit and now engaged with Wright.
They met two years ago, at the end of August, on a tethered balloon ride and later through a mutual friend at a bonfire. No date is set for marriage, but they’ll both be spending a lot of time living in Alabama, particularly in the winter, while coming to Aroostook County for summer and the East Coast’s best hot air ballooning country. “We’ll see what we do,” Wright said. “We’ll figure it out.”
Among other events was a duck race fundraiser for Shriners Hospitals for Children, an antique tractor ride and an opening of Main Street to pedestrians Thursday evening.
Overall, the fest was a success, said Theresa Fowler, executive director of the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce. Despite two scheduled flights being called off due to weather, warm, clear skies prevailed through much of the weekend and Presque Isle was bustling with visitors.
The Crown of Maine Balloon Fest received $7,000 from the Maine Office of Tourism to expand advertising, particularly in southern Maine. “It really helped,” Fowler said. “It made an impact on the people we attracted from the southern part of the state.”
