NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The fourth annual New Smyrna Beach Balloon Fest takes to the skies beginning today and NSBNews.net will chronicle the festivities through the weekend as the Internet newspaper has done all along.
NSBNews.net will have profile stories, videos and photos from the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport where thousands of locals and day-trippers from Central Florida and beyond are expected to descend.
Here is a schedule of Friday's events:
3 pm -- Gates open. No coolers please. 200-plus vendors open, Kids Fun Zone, the Education Zone presented by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, live entertainment, and the Carnival Rides (until 10 pm).
The Rise Above Tuskegee Airmen Traveling Exhibit display, movie, and Red Tail P-51 Mustang fighter can be enjoyed all evening. RIDES (until dark -- helicopters, airplanes). Lots of food all day; beer 3-9 p.m.
Tethered Balloon Rides (winds and weather permitting)
5 pm -- Orlando Bones (jazz trombones)
7:15 pm -- Balloon Glow (balloons are very wind sensitive, and can not inflate if the winds are more than about 8 MPH), GLOW usually lasts 60 minutes.
7:30 pm -- JT Curtis and the Silver Eagle Band
8:15 pm -- Air Night Show -- the first ever in this part of Florida! The Aeroshell Team circles the Balloon Glow and then performs at dusk. The US Army Golden Knights perform a spectacular night jump (with pyrotechnics), and the 300 mph Jet School Bus.
10 pm -- Gates close.