BALLOON & KITE STAMPEDE at Antelope Island will now be on Labor Day weekend.
This year’s event runs Sept. 4-6, a couple of weeks earlier than in the past – with the hope that Mother Nature will cooperate. Also, organizers believe putting it in the mix for Labor Day will provide another venue to spend the holiday weekend.
“It will expand, including Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday,” says Stampede Committee Chair Vaughn Jacobsen. “This allows families to have a great weekend experience, and stay close to home.”
Admission will continue at $10 a carload, including the $9 state park admission. That includes admission to the island as well as all balloon and kite activities and events.
“We have five goals for the balloon festival,” he said. “It is to provide economic development in the county, increased public awareness of Antelope Island State Park, and to provide an educational opportunity for Davis County students.”
In addition, it’s hoped a “reasonable return” can come to sponsors and have the event “become the signature annual destination event in Davis County.”
It’s intended to augment activities already traditional in the county, such as various community fairs and events, plus the big Davis County Fair that will be held in mid-August.
“How many counties have fairs? We have an excellent fair, but everybody has that,” Jacobsen said. “We want to be the signature event in the county.”
As part of an effort to involve kids, balloons are taken to 15 schools, involving more than 9,000 students last year.
“In partnering with the Davis School District, the balloons to schools provided an educational, informative and fun event for students, teachers and administrators,” he said. “All 15 spots were filled in four hours.
“He’s gotten more requests this year than he can fund,” Jacobsen said, referring to Davis District Community Relations director Chris Williams.
The balloon appearances can help with myriad curriculum offerings, from poetry to math and science, Jacobsen said.
“This isn’t an event we’re trying to make a profit on, but we’re trying to invest in our community, It (stampede) has really been well received,” he said. “I think we’ve hit on something that’s going to be a bigger event. Weber State polled those on the island through their business department students, and the response has been tremendous. They (crowds) loved it.”
“We’ve added the element of kites, so we have something in the air, either way,” so weather isn’t such a factor, said Davis Chamber of Commerce CEO John Pitt.
“The wind has been a concern with balloons,” he said, noting the event has continued to grow, despite some bad luck with Mother Nature over the years.
tbusselberg@davisclipper.com
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