WITH a population of 2000, the town of Canowindra isn’t exactly sleepy, but each April about 40 hot-air ballooners and a band of 15,000 spectators arrive to awaken the town.
Now heading into its fifth year, the Canowindra Balloon Challenge has made a name for itself on the international tourism scene, drawing pilots, balloons and onlookers from across the globe.
The event has been named among the finalists in the NSW Regional Achievement and Community Awards.
The ballooning festivities take place in the course of one week, with joy-riders, commercial flights and competition pilots filling the sky with 30 metre balloons.
Challenge co-ordinator Jan Kerr said to look up at sky at that time of year was nothing short of amazing.
“To see all the balloons in the sky all heading in the one direction is amazing, and the excitement and thrill of watching them come in at the end of their flight is really something else,” Jan said.
But while it may all sound whimsical, there is a fierce level of competition at play.
For the past three years the festival has housed the Australian National Championships, which has seen the best of Australia’s pilots ducking and weaving their way to take the coveted title.
Competitions run throughout the week and include The Hare and Hounds, where competitors fly towards the launch point of a hare balloon, then chase it and attempt to drop a marker close to it after landing; and The Maximum Drop where competitors attempt to drop a marker as far as possible from their launch point within a set time.
For those on the ground, ballooning is the ultimate spectator sport.
This year, on-lookers were even able to use location-enabled, point-of-view camera technology to track their favourite balloons and meet them at the end point.
Spectators can also volunteer to drive the chase vehicles if they choose.
They can keep the pilots in line by taking on an “observer” role, too.
Jan and her husband Graham began the festival just four years ago as a “small something” for the town, but since then it has grown like wildfire.
In its first year under 2000 out-of-towners came along to the event; this year, the crowd was seven times this number, injecting $1.9 million into the regional economy.
Jan said as much as possible, the events proceeds stay in the community.
“We run the event with a 100-mile principle – everything that goes into it comes from within 100 miles of our town,” Jan said.
This principle drives involvement from hundreds of local businesses, and it is little wonder neighbouring towns Cowra, Orange, Forbes and Parkes are thrilled with the event; and not to mention local school, sporting and community groups.
For this reason, the event has won and been nominated for a number prestigious tourism awards.
Last year, the event won a silver medal in the NSW Tourism Awards, and this year took out the Inland Tourism Festival and Events Award.
The NSW Regional Achievement and Community Awards, of which the festival is nominated, will be announced on November 1.
The awards are supported by The Land.
“It’s taken a lot of hard work to get the point we are at now; we have had a lot of advice and support along the way that’s for sure,” Jan said.
“We’ve really amazed ourselves.”
Jan said herself and Graham have their sights set on turning the event into a “fully fledged” international competition in the future.
“This year we had five Japanese and three Americans teams along to our competition, and we’re working our way up to hosting the Women’s World Championships which I think we can do.”
In 2015 the Canowindra Balloon Challenge will be held April 12-19.
Visit Canowindra Challenge.
