Recordpub.com - Balloon A-Fair excitement rises: Clear skies over Ravenna allow for clean lift-off

Rc Sunbeau Balley Farm Balloons lifting off. photo by Robert J. Lucas

By Diane Smith

Record-Courier staff writer

Emily Boring clapped her hands with delight as she watched two balloons take off next to one another at the Ravenna Balloon A-Fair Saturday.

It was the second day of excitement for the 3-year-old Akron resident, who said she had attended a separate festival the day before.

“Yesterday, I saw a Dorothy balloon, with a tin man and a lion and red shoes,” she said. Her family was attending the Ravenna event for the first time.

Thousands of people filled Sunbeau Valley Farms on the opening day of the festival. With a record crowd heading to watch the balloon launch at 5:30 p.m., some watched the balloons take off from Sunbeau, others, from their cars as they were stuck on S.R. 59 heading to the event.

Bob Rupert, grand marshal of the Grand Parade in downtown Ravenna that morning, flew in one of the balloons that took off from Sunbeau, accompanied by his wife, Jo.

Jack Ferguson, serving his last year as president of the event committee, said 21 balloons launched from Sunbeau — as did several “renegade” balloons not tied to the event.

“What a great ending to a perfect day,” he said.

He said thousands more people attended the event than in previous years, accounting for the unusual traffic jam. It was the first time in years that cars were parked inside the field, he noted.

The parade, which started the day’s festivities, had an estimated 160 units, including fire trucks, making it the largest parade in years. People lined up along Main Street, watching tractors, high school bands and balloon-themed floats go by. Some adopted a tropical theme in honor of the parade theme “Paradise in the Sky.”

After the parade, Ferguson predicted a successful balloon launch, judging by the way children’s helium balloons gently floated towards the sky.

His wife, Jeanie, co-chair of the parade along with her son, Mark Short, said the parade was a success.

“We had several good floats, and new people we never had before,” she said. “I was watching the kids’ faces. That’s what I love most about Balloon A-Fair, the kids.”

For Rich Moore of Lake Milton and Susan Naccarato, of Poland, Ohio, this year’s Balloon A-Fair will be a day they will always remember.

Moore proposed to Naccarato, his girlfriend of 18 months, while riding in a balloon between Ravenna and Kent.

“I got down kind of low in the balloon,” he said, describing his proposal aboard the wicker basket of the balloon.

It was a surprised to Naccarato, a recent graduate of Kent State University and a former resident of Kent. Moore only told her that they were going to get a sausage sandwich before surprising her with the balloon flight.

The couple rode aboard the Sweet E-Motion, which touched down in a field on Middlebury Road in Kent, across from Fred Fuller Park.

The balloon’s owner, Kyle Farber of Minerva, a 13-year-pilot, witnessed a marriage proposal for the second time since he has owned the balloon.

The Balloon A-Fair continues today with a car show, an antique tractor show and live entertainment, including craft and food booths, the Children’s Alley and carnival rides.

The third annual Lintz Collision Portage County Idol will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The second balloon ascension of the weekend is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., weather permitting, at Sunbeau.

Daily admission to Sunbeau Valley Farm is $5 per person, with children ages 12 and younger admitted free. The Sunbeau entrance fee is non-refundable.

Kasha Legeza-Burton contributed to this story.