New York State Competition of Balloons in Dansville canceled in 2023
After greater than 4 many years of flight, the Dansville Festival of Balloons has been grounded.
A Livingston County Labor Day weekend custom that draws as many as 20,000 spectators to the Dansville Municipal Airport for three days of hot air balloon launches and other activities won’t soar in 2023, at the least not beneath the banner of the Dansville Competition of Balloons, LTD.
The five-member organizing board and committee that has run the occasion for years introduced the cancellation in a Facebook post this month, writing the choice was made with a “unhappy coronary heart” and is as a result of “continued decline of volunteer staffing” and the present “monetary atmosphere.”
The put up added, “The volunteer, not-for-profit group has served the group and the realm with 41 years of household leisure centered on the pure magnificence and historical past of scorching air balloons.”
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Balloon pageant wants extra year-round organizers
Based on organizers, for the same pageant to happen sooner or later, new individuals should step up and serve.
“The principle cause that we aren’t persevering with is due to a scarcity of volunteers to be on the committee for the entire yr,” defined Dorothy Hotchkiss, the pageant board president who has been concerned with the occasion for at the least 30 years. “We have now many volunteers the weekend of the pageant and that’s great. They’re improbable. But it surely’s the organizing and the work all year long that we’d like the assistance and the energy to maintain going.”
In 1997, the Dansville occasion was formally designated because the New York State Competition of Balloons. Even with that distinction, Hotchkiss mentioned a lot of the year-round planning is achieved by the board and three or 4 lively committee volunteers.
“It’s good. It’s been our selection,” she mentioned. “Nothing is extra satisfying than seeing households and folks of all ages come to the pageant. To have a scorching air balloon launch, and to see individuals journey as passengers, and hearken to the group. It’s all the time been very rewarding.”
Competition of Balloons has donated greater than $200,000 to group teams
The pageant board has been capable of preserve a $5 admission worth for a few years whereas youngsters 12 and beneath are nonetheless admitted without cost. Fewer balloonists participate than prior to now, however Dansville stays a preferred setting, Hotchkiss mentioned, “due to the valley; the air currents are a pure movement for this kind of leisure.”
Along with offering three days of scorching air balloon flights, distributors, automotive reveals and different actions, Hotchkiss mentioned a key focus is giving again to the group. Competition organizers mentioned almost $220,000 has been donated to native non-profits since 2001.
The pageant has additionally offered house for organizations and teams, together with faculty courses, to boost cash by volunteering on the pageant and holding fundraisers. One instance: the Dansville Rotary Membership’s hamburger and scorching canine stand on the pageant is a big yearly fundraiser for the membership, in accordance with members.
Hotchkiss said it was important to make the cancellation announcement early enough to allow groups like the Rotary time to make other arrangements.
Dansville mayor Peter R. Vogt said the festival has a positive economic impact in the village, with thousands of out-of-towners patronizing “everything from restaurants to gas stations” during the weekend.
Vogt, whose family hosted hot air balloon pilots during several festivals, said while the cancellation is a disappointment, it’s not surprising.
“An organization, for it to thrive, has to revitalize itself with new blood every now and then and they just were not getting that,” Vogt said. “It’s been the same people year after year and most of them are in my age group, in their 70s, probably on average. When you hit your 70s you are looking to retire and pass the torch to somebody.”
2019:Behind the scenes at the Festival of Balloons
Pandemic influence:2020 Balloon Festival cancelled
‘If there’s a will there’s a approach’
Hotchkiss is optimistic new individuals will rise to the event, even when the occasion goes in a completely new route.
“We won’t be having one other pageant beneath the title of ‘The Dansville Competition of Balloons,'” she mentioned. “My hope, and I anticipate, that there are others locally who could possibly choose it up.
“They may have a pageant that doesn’t look a bit like ours. New concepts. New methods. That’s OK. It’s a fantastic group, if there’s a will there’s a approach.”
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