Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival takes flight for third year

Community Day goes Saturday downtown Medicine Hat starting at 11 a.m. with a market at the library, youth art party at the Esplanade, food trucks in Town Square, and a movie at the Monarch at 2:30 p.m.

Del Michaud is 77-years-old and celebrating 50 years of flying hot air balloons, he helped establish the Calgary Balloon Club and has trained a number of balloon pilots over the years.

Michaud also has a special connection to the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival.

“I ended up training Willy, who organizes the event, and I don’t like to let him know. But I guess he will. If he sees this, he was one of the better students that I’ve ever had,” Michaud said about festival organizer Willy Taillon.

“He was very accomplished and caught on very quickly. He just had that personality and experience that he’s caught on to it. And it was really interesting to watch somebody that caught on that quickly,” he added.

“Look what he’s done with this event. Just incredible.”

Michaud says he tells everybody that he’s into his last years of flying, hoping to fly into his 80’s.

“I’d like to hit, if I still feel okay, and want to go to 85, that’ll be a record. I think that Dale and I were the first in Canada that I’ve ever hit 50 years,” Michaud said.

Bill Dickinson from Rolling Hills has attended all three years of the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival.

A balloon pilot now for 22 years, he has relatives in the area to help him with the flights, and appreciates a festival so close to home.

“Well, it’s practically my backyard. We do business here, and the sponsorship is just phenomenal down here,” Dickinson said.

“People are so excited to have us here, we really look forward to coming here every year,” he added.

“We get to see people in their backyards, or coming off their porch looking up, we get nothing but great reaction from them, it’s just good atmosphere. We haven’t had a bad experience here yet.”

Dickinson adds that the cooler temperature on Thursday morning where great conditions to fly.

“Cooler is definitely more optimal. We’ve had a lot of showery, windy activity around here lately, and this morning was just perfect conditions,” Dickinson said.

“The air is more stable, and you don’t have to heat the envelope, or top up as much to get your lift.”

Jacob Vaillancourt travelled from Quebec to attend the festival.

He found out about the festival through a friend, who had attended past years and is also participating.

Vaillancourt was able to borrow a balloon for the event to be able to fly.

He has travelled as far away as Australia to fly hot air balloons and enjoys the uniqueness of flying in different areas.

“I landed this morning in a neighborhood, and then those people were just like, it’s got to be so special to see it from the air,” Vaillancourt said.

“I’m like, it’s totally different. I mean, it would be, if you don’t know the area, you’re flying over places that you’ve been driving, but you can’t really tell because it is so different when you’re up there than when you’re on the ground.”

Vaillancourt also enjoys the community aspect of flying hot air balloons.

“It’s my first time on the western part of Canada. I’ve seen people that I have never seen before, but I’ve heard about them. I know the name. I know the face. I know the balloon. And it’s just like it’s so friendly and everyone is like a big family,” Vaillancourt said.

“I think it’s the biggest aspect of ballooning. I go to events with like 600 balloons, and then you get to meet those people again and again every year. And then it’s just like you’ve never separated. It’s just like you’ve been there the day before when you see them. It’s pretty cool.”

Ryan Oscar, director of operations and education with Our Collective Journey which supports mental health in the community, collaborated with Willy Taillon to start the festival.

This year they decided to not host a gala as a fundraiser.

“There’s enough galas in this city. What we decided to do is just take donations. If anybody’s looking to donate to our nonprofit, to help us support individuals in the city, a lot of the donations that we receive will be going to our resilience coach service within the middle and high schools,” Oscar said.

“We have coaches that are trained in coaching practices, along with science from the brain story certification out of Calgary and the Palix Foundation. We’ve put those together and our coaches are in the schools helping young people connect and, and build resilience and get connected to the resources they need to be connected to,” he added.

“Any funds that get raised at Rise Up that are above and beyond the cost of the festival go towards servicing that program.”

Michaud said this is one of the best events he’s gone to with great community backing.

“People coming from the U.S. up here, people coming from eastern Canada. That’s unusual to have that kind of interest to come to an event a little event in Medicine Hat just not gonna be little anymore,” Michaud said.

“Some people get hooked when they go up in a balloon, and they say, Wow, this is really neat. And so when you’re up there, there is an adventure to it, because you never know where you’re going to land,” he added.

“There’s a little bit of that, but also, it’s just so peaceful being up there, you can fly at different altitudes, you can fly in the winds and go in different directions. And then land and it’s just a great experience, in terms of aviation is probably one of the safest aviation kinds of sports that you can get involved in.”

Michaud hopes to see more balloon pilots trained in the Medicine Hat area over the years, and is hoping to see someone in the area become a trainer.

With lots of open areas to land it’s a great place to learn and fly hot air balloons.

by Jesse Gill

Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival takes flight for third year

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