The 11th Annual Monroe Life Balloon Festival will return to East Tennessee at The Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore, Tennessee. Enjoy balloon rides, live music, food, games, an inflatable Kid’s Zone and much more all while supporting the Boys and Girls Club of Monroe County. The two-day Balloon Festival begins on Saturday, August 31st and runs through Sunday, September 1st, from 4pm – 10pm. The finale each night will be a Balloon Glow set to music with colorful hot air balloons beginning at dusk. We invite everyone to come out and
join in the celebration!
General Admission is $10, VIP is $125 and includes a meal catered by LongHorn Steakhouse. Get your tickets at the link below!
https://monroelifeballoonfestival.com
Live Music!
Dusty Leigh Huston
For the 11th Annual Monroe Life Balloon Festival, we are proud to present Dusty Leigh Huston as the performing artist for both days. This incredible country-music artist was named the 2022 ISSA Female Vocalist of the Year. Her debut EP, Roots & Dreams, has been a huge hit, and she’s hard at work on a new album. Her songs have been streamed well over 200,000 times on Spotify. She is from Idaho and now lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Come to the festival to hear her perform live!
“Dusty Leigh is quite the unique talent in music, today. Easily said, nobody sounds like Dusty and nobody brings to the table the sound she does, nor do they even come close to bringing to the table the same artistry.” — Nicholas Liddle, PopWrapped
This Year’s Balloon & Pilots
Skip Durham, Mischief
Skip and Toni have been involved in ballooning since 2009, first as a private pilot flying for fun and then as a commercial pilot.
In 2010, they formed Bluff City Balloons to give others the fun and enjoyment of a private hot air balloon ride. They have one of only 6 balloons in the country specially outfitted to take up folks with any special needs. Giving and sharing is a way of life for the Durhams. They are excited to be a part of the festival.
Mischief is 120,000 square feet, 9 stories tall and was made in 2019. The basket has a door and is handicap accessible.
Sponsored By: The Knoxville Comprehensive Breast Center
John Cavin, Cartoon Balloons – 8 Special Shaped Cartoon Themed Balloons!!
It all started when, after driving racecars for 10 years, John Cavin was looking for an inexpensive way to get the same thrill. That’s when, in 1979, he come upon Hot Air Balloon racing. It was an adventure from the beginning and John has been flying ever since.
In 1996, John became the owner of one of the most unusual special shape Hot Air Balloons on the planet. After talking with the Shep Wooley, the recording artist that wrote and sang the 1958 hit song, “The Flying Purple People Eater” John knew he a GREAT name for his unique, eye-catching balloon.
In 2012 John acquired Spunky the skunk special shaped hot air balloon. John had some added inspiration when coming up with this look alike balloon’s name. John was visiting his grandkids one Christmas and asked them to help him name spunk.
Then in 2015 Yellow Bird and Puddy Cat became part of John’s Air Force of Special Shapes Hot Air balloon Team. John now hires pilots to help him fly all four balloons and he also hired his grammar school friend Tweetie Whitfield to help him drive across country.
Fred Poole, Joy
Fred Poole soared above the Leon International Balloon Festival in Mexico, five black limousines tailing him from the ground. This flight, he was with the wife of a Mexican governor, and the limousines were the chase crew, the people who would pick them up at the end of the flight.
Fred was looking for a place to land, but the balloon had drifted over a local zoo. He asked his passenger if it was okay for them to land there.
She laughed and said, “Yeah, I’m on the board of directors. I think it’s okay.” The balloon set down in the safari exhibit, inside one of the enclosures, scattering herds of gazelles and zebras. Eventually, the zoo workers—who must have been surprised to see a hot air balloon landing in their zoo—came to help them out. It’s one of Fred’s favorite memories from his 13 years in ballooning, or as he calls it “the smile business,” that is, the business of making other people happy. It’s why his balloon is called Joy.
I ask him how he got started and he says, “I literally woke up one day and decided I was going to fly hot air balloons.” Before this, he piloted planes and did skydiving. One day, he heard about a balloon festival near his home in Mississippi and became interested. He reached out to the festival and found an instructor.
“The rest is history,” said Fred. “It’s an adventure every time you fly.”
Brian Dial, Bandit
Brian Dial leapt from the plane into the open air, parachute on his back, thousands of feet between him and the ground. The wind whipped past his ears, and the Earth seemed to charge towards him. This was Brian Dial’s old hobby—skydiving. His new hobby also involves the sky but in a much more relaxing—and less terrifying—way.
As a teenager, Brian Dial helped crew hot air balloons, but it wasn’t until he was 45, eight years ago, that he decided to pursue his pilot’s certificate. He bought his balloon, Bandit, which had been used by a previous owner to set the world record for highest altitude reached by a female balloonist for that category of balloon—32,000 feet!
Brian said, “Ballooning is a lot different than other forms of aviation because it’s so quiet and slow-moving. You can drift at treetops and see deer and animals running around, or you can go to a much higher altitude and see long distances, kind of get a panoramic view. But what I really like about it is you have time to look and study and find things, whereas in an airplane or even a helicopter, you’re usually moving really fast and you just catch glimpses of things.”
Brian loves to take his family out flying, including his wife, Beth, and their children— Brady (who is also Brian’s crew chief), Abbi, Savanna and Shianna—as well as his sisters and their families. Brian said, “That’s one of the things I really enjoy about ballooning is it gets the family together.”
He also said, “My favorite time flying is balloon events because… the crowd just really enjoys it, and they’re in awe. Especially flying out of an event, seeing
the event as you fly away from it, is just an amazing experience. Seeing the crowd’s amazement, as well as hearing the bands… Around here, our event [the Alabama Jubilee] is held right next to the Tennessee River. Flying over that is just a great sight.”
Tom Steinbock – Flying Saucer
Tom Steinbock has loved balloons ever since he was seven years old. At that age, his next-door neighbor hired someone to fly the very first Kentucky Derby Balloon Race, and Tom got involved with chasing and helping crew the balloons.
“I fell in love with it when I was really young, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” Tom said.
This year was the 50th anniversary of the race, and Tom has been involved every single year, with the sole exception of 1982 when he was building a house. But Tom didn’t feel too left out that year, because the finish line for the race just so happened to be his front yard! In 2016, he completed a childhood dream by winning the Kentucky Derby Balloon Race.
“That’s got to be one of my top favorite memories of all time,” Tom said. “I was just at the right place at the right time when I won.” He has been licensed for 37 years and has flown in 40 states and six countries. He has been married to the same woman for 41 years, has two golden retrievers, and lives in Crestwood, Kentucky.
Mike Wahl, Cool Ray
Mike Wahl releases the small helium balloon and watches carefully as it twists and turns in the air currents. He needs to know what direction the wind is blowing at all different altitudes. The information is critical if he’s going to win the balloon rally.
Mike boards his hot air balloon with his crew member and fires his burners, causing it to rise off the ground. Their target is a tall pole
in the far distance with a key on the top. The competing balloonists will go one at a time and whoever grabs the key wins the event and gets one step closer to the rally’s $10,000 prize. Navigating a hot air balloon is not easy. There’s no way to directly control where it is going as the balloon will always travel in the same direction as the wind. Fortunately, the wind is often blowing in different directions at different altitudes, so pilots can raise and lower the balloon to reach air currents moving in the direction they want. This is why Mike released the balloon earlier. Navigating this way takes experience, intuition, and some luck.
Eventually, Mike and his crew member reach the pole, but precision flying in a balloon is difficult, and they have trouble getting low enough to grab the key. Fortunately, there’s another option. Each balloonist in the rally was given a numbered bean bag to throw at the X at the base of the pole. The bags that land are scored from the pole at the X outward, with the closest three winning descending cash prizes.
Unable to reach the key, Mike and his crew member look for the bean bag… only to realize that they’ve somehow left it behind, meaning they have no way to win the competition. Panicking, they begin throwing random objects overboard instead—gloves, bags, whatever is loose in the basket. Finally, the wind carries them away from the pole and they have to land. At the end of the competition, when all the results have been measured, the judges return with a handful of bean bags dropped by other pilots… and a pile of random objects from Mike’s balloon. “Here’s all the stuff you dumped,” the judge says.
Mike asks if their creative solution still counts, and the judges inform him that he has won second place. Over the years, Mike would go on to win countless other rallies but never in quite so unique a way as this.
Chuck Waltz, Yellow Bird
Chuck has been ballooning for close to 35 years with almost 1,500 hours in the air. His wife Cindy enjoys the balloon as much as he does. Their greatest pleasure with ballooning is all the excitement people have watching them and all of the hearts they have touched over the years.
Keith Kohtz, Terry Mouse
Keith has flown balloons for 18 years with his wife Tammy and two kids, Mickala and Landon. They enjoy flying around west Michigan.
Al Smith, Tom Cat
Al got his start in ballooning in 1990 by crewing for a local pilot. This evolved into flight training with him, and eventually, Al obtained his pilot certificate which has allowed him to pilot his own balloon for more than 25 years. He has flown
at balloon events in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Alabama and New Mexico, and he has flown at Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM for the past 22 years. He’s been married to his high school sweetheart, Karen, for 43 years and is incredibly grateful that she has put up with him for all these years.
Mike Hanson, Delta Belle
Mike Hanson has owned and operated a successful small ride operation since 1992 and has flown several high-profile passengers including President Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and the musicians Brooks and Dunn. Additionally, he flew passengers for the Make-A-Wish foundation and for charity fundraisers for Palmer Home for Children and Peavey Electronics Orphan Relief Project. He has been a commercial hot air balloon pilot for Bryan Foods, Sara Lee, Mossy Oak, and Mississippi Printing. In 2016, he was named the BFA Rookie of the Year. Mike has also been the organizer and speaker for the Canton Mississippi Hot Air Balloon Safety Seminar since 2018. He was the Balloonmeister for Grenada Lake’s Thunder on Water and Greenville, Mississippi’s Aviation Days. He also served as the Competition Director and assistant Balloonmeister for the Mississippi Balloon Championship. Mike is currently instructing five hot air balloon students, two under the age of 18.
Bill Cunningham, Clypso
When he started ballooning 44 years ago, Bill, not knowing any better, thought he could get rich and have fun doing it. He has met exactly half of those goals.
Ballooning may not be a great way to get rich, but it’s certainly a great way to make memories. Bill has flown in 40 states plus Mexico and Canada, and he has logged over 2,300 hours in the air. He says it’s difficult to pick a favorite flight because all these places are beautiful in their own way.
Bill has been married to his wife Martha for 49 years. They have two daughters, Jenny, who is the mother of his three grandkids, and Maggie, who is a Delta Airlines pilot. The highlight and most treasured memory of his ballooning career was three years ago on Father’s Day when his daughters, grandkids and sons-in-law all crewed for him at a balloon event in Memphis, and for the first time in 44 years, he got all his girls (wife and daughters) in the basket with him for their first flight together.
In 1981, Bill started flying in national and inter- national hot air balloon competitions, and since then he’s had 17 top 5 finishes in 25 events plus 2 more 7th place finishes.
