Northampton Balloon Festival facts for kids
.jpg)
The Northampton Balloon Festival is a super fun yearly event held in Northampton, England. It's a special time when many colorful hot air balloons fill the sky!
The first festivals took place at The Racecourse. The local council helped organize these exciting events. They usually happened over a weekend in the middle of August. The main attractions were seeing the hot air balloons fly twice a day and watching them glow beautifully at night. There were also market stalls, live music, and fun shows.
The Festival's History
The very first Northampton Balloon Festival happened in 1990. Some of the first cool balloons to appear were shaped like a Chubb fire extinguisher and the famous character Rupert The Bear!
In its early years, the festival was a huge hit. Families loved coming to enjoy the weekend, watching the balloons, and visiting the many different stalls.
In 2001, the Balloon Festival joined with the Northampton Town Show. This bigger event was called the Northampton Festival. But later, it went back to being known as the Northampton Balloon Festival.
Some famous music stars even performed at the festival! In 2004, the festival featured Sugababes, Big Brovaz, and Ronan Keating. The 2005 festival had Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Rachel Stevens, and Lemar.
The 2007 festival faced some challenges. Bad weather on the last two days meant fewer people came. Also, the council decided to charge adults for entry. This made many adults, especially those without young children, decide not to attend or spend money at the stalls.
In 2008, the festival was made smaller. There were fewer stalls than before. Even with performances by Rick Astley and Signature, the festival didn't do well and lost a lot of money.
Because of these problems, the local council stopped funding the event. But in 2009, new organizers stepped in to save the festival! They moved it to a new location, Billing Aquadrome. The festival took place from August 14th to 16th, 2009, and the best part was that entry was free!
The Northampton Balloon Festival returned to Billing Aquadrome in 2010. However, that year the organizers decided to charge an entry fee. The Balloon Festival was held alongside an existing event, the American Car Show. It also included many different stalls and fun fairground rides.
In 2012, Pure Leisure, who own Billing Aquadrome, agreed to sponsor the event for another three years. This helped the festival continue!
The Northampton Balloon Festival was held many more times at Billing Aquadrome. It took place from August 16th to 18th in 2013, August 15th to 17th in 2014, August 14th to 16th in 2015, August 19th to 21st in 2016, August 18th to 20th in 2017, and August 17th to 19th in 2018.
The last Northampton Balloon Festival at Billing Aquadrome was in 2019. Billing Aquadrome decided not to host the event anymore. This was because the weather had been bad in the previous two years, which meant the balloons couldn't fly very often.
But don't worry! In 2023, the Northampton Balloon Festival made a comeback! It was held once again at its original home, The Racecourse park.
See also
