Valentine’s Day Weekend, February 14th, 7am-9:30pm, and February 15th, 7am-1pm
By Lisa Morgan
This just may be the most fun Cathedral City has ever had. The first ever, Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival is open to all colors, shapes, sizes, ages, genders and income levels. All that is required for most of the events is an attitude of love and a sense of awe and wonder. And if you are feeling a little short of those, the owners of Fantasy Balloon Flights (who also happen to be the owners of Café Italia in Indian Wells) will be happy to share some of theirs. The adventures will begin bright and early on Valentine’s Day morning, packing in as much fun and as many inspirational and romantic events as the day can hold. There will be lover’s getting married and becoming engaged in beautifully decorated balloon gondolas, 100′ in the air, as well as balloon rides provided to the public Saturday and Sunday mornings beginning at 7:00 AM. The Saturday night, Sunset Wine Dinner & Balloon Glow, is the perfect, romantic date for Valentine’s evening. It includes a 4 course, chef prepared, dinner under the stars, set around 20 glowing hot air balloons, with wine pairings from Sonoma, California and Italy, all set to music. The City of Cathedral City and the producers of the event purposely kept much of the day free, and open to all ages. Emphasizing that the event is open to all, is the presence of the “Equality Balloon” because, as co-founder of the event, Steve Wilkinson says, “It’s the right thing to do.”
It wasn’t long ago, in the cool desert mornings, you could look up and see several brilliantly colored balloons floating across the skies of the Coachella Valley. They and their dragon like rumble of friendly flame gradually disappeared; a result of a lawsuit filed and ultimately dropped by JCM Farming. The owners of the mysterious, 80-acre olive farm off Avenue 54 between Monroe and Jackson streets filed a lawsuit in March 2009 against virtually all low-flying air traffic in the sky over and around the property. Eventually with most of the balloon companies beaten down by thousands of dollars in legal fees, defending their right to fly, Fantasy Balloon Flights was one of the only surviving defenders in the apparently groundless lawsuit. All that being said, it is no small magic that is launching these beauties back into our desert skies, a magic brought to us by the husband and wife team that stood up against the suit until the end.
“My husband, Steve, and I founded Fantasy Balloon Flights in 1981, ballooning out of Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert to provide balloon tours to tourists and snowbirds,” shared event co-founder, Cindy Wilkinson. “Some of our first customers were the Carl Karcher family celebrating Carl’s Jr.’s birthday. Since then we have flown thousands of guests, made movies, commercials, music videos, reality shows. We flew Playmates, and celebrities including Sylvester Stallone, Edie Adams, John Travolta, and James Garner, and this past summer we did a rave and flew the DJs Dada Life into their show. We operate corporate balloons for Applebee’s, Limoneira, Windermere Real Estate, Curves, and the Equality Balloon. Our latest balloon addition is a gigantic bunch of bananas!”
Justin Wilkinson, son of Steve and Cindy, has been a commercial hot air balloon pilot for our business Fantasy Balloon Flights for the past 10 years. He is also a great drummer, playing in the band, Ideation, with John Marek. He is putting the line-up for the musical entertainment together for the event. Many good local bands will perform including Long Duk Dong, Avenida Band, the Yip Yops, the Brosquitos, Alchemy, and of course, Ideation.
The Wilkinsons met with the new Events and Communications Director for the City of Cathedral City, Christopher Parman, in September to discuss ways they could use the hot air balloons to promote some of the new attractions at the Town Center between the UltraMax and the Mary Pickford theaters. “Steve and I were at the largest balloon meet in the world, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, in early October, when Chris pitched the plan for a balloon festival to the city council members. They agreed with us that it would be a great event for the city and the Coachella Valley and it was approved and we began building the new festival.”
Saturday Feb. 14 between 7:00 AM- 9:30 PM, and Sunday, Feb 15 between 7:00 AM and 12:00pm, there will be tethered balloon rides available, weather permitting, in the early part of the morning. There will be a Kids Zone, Gourmet Food Trucks, the Applebee’s Community Pancake Breakfast, Vintage VW Buses and Campers, Vendors, Beer and Wine Gardens, bands and the Disney Pixar movie ‘Up’ played on the largest outdoor screen in the valley. And, of course, the big event is the Sunset Wine Dinner and Balloon Glow Sat. evening.
People should arrive early for the balloon events, as it may become too windy or gusty for the balloons later in the day. The rides are $25 for adults, $15 for kids, and children under 5 years are free with a paid adult. The weddings include the California marriage license, an officiant, 15-20 minute ceremony, a Champagne or sparkling juice toast and a photo for $550. Additional guests may join the wedding couple in the balloons for $50 per person.
More information is being added to the web site daily so be sure to check it. You may purchase tickets there also. And if you’d like to be a volunteer, the website provides that information as well. Go to www.hotairballoonfest.com
