Hot-air balloons highlight Eyes to the Skies
Lisle's Community Park will be a sea of color Thursday morning - weather permitting - as balloonists prepare for their first flight of this weekend's Eyes to the Skies festival.
Thirty-three years after the original celebration began to mark Lisle's sesquicentennial, hot-air balloons remain its defining feature. Wayne Dunham, secretary of the original Fourth of July Committee, which took over organizing Eyes in 1992, said a member of the Lisle Park District originally came up with the idea.
"He had seen several festivals with balloons and brought the idea back," Dunham said. "We hoped the use of balloons would give the fest a distinction no one else would have."
Current organizers believe it did just that. Chairman Val Vlazny said attendees begin to line the field at 4 p.m. for the fest's 6:30 p.m. nightly launches.
The launches are scheduled at 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. each day of the fest that runs from Thursday through Saturday in the park near Short Street and Route 53. Balloon glows, where inflated balloons are lighted, are at 8:15 p.m. each night.
The full festival runs from 3 to 11 p.m. Thursday and noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
"Most people don't have the opportunity to be up close and personal with balloons," Vlazny said. "To see them inflate and fly away, you don't realize what the size is."
Eyes to the Skies Committee Chairman Mike Shuta agrees that "it's almost like magic" when the balloons, which are roughly the same size as a seven-story building, light up the night sky during the festival's balloon glow.
These highflying bags of air are no modern marvel. According to a feature written for television's "NOVA," a duck, sheep and rooster were the first to experience balloon flight in 1783. They were quickly followed by man later that same year. Jean-Franíçois Pilí¢tre De Rozier and Francois Laurent flew to 500 feet and traveled about 5½ miles in France during a 20-minute flight.
The first balloon was heated by a straw fire, rather than the propane balloonists use today. The De Rozier and Laurent flight marked the beginning of humans' reach for the skies. Throughout the next 200 years, flying enthusiasts worldwide sought to break records and accomplish ever-increasing goals.
The first flight in North America occurred under President George Washington's watch in Philadelphia in 1793. Hot-air balloons continued to evolve into airships or blimps and gas balloons used for scientific research. The modern hot-air balloon is still being used to break records by some, but others simply see piloting as a hobby.
"I think the thing I enjoy most about ballooning is the camaraderie with other pilots. It's like one big family, wherever I go in the country," Vlazny said. "It's like you have a friend everywhere."
Although not everyone will be given the opportunity to fly untethered at this year's Eyes to the Skies, volunteers are still needed to help inflate the balloons both in the morning and at night.
If you go
What: Lisle's Eyes to the Skies Festival
When: 3 to 11 p.m. Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday and noon to 11 p.m. Saturday (carnival continues through Sunday)
Where: Lisle Community Park, near Route 53 and Short Street, Lisle
Cost: $8 adults and children 7 and older, free for children 6 and younger
Info: eyestotheskies.org
or (630) 541-6095