Fire hazards ground Snowmass Balloon Festival

The 50th annual Snowmass Balloon Festival will not see the sky next weekend amid heightened fire hazard. 

The flight cancellation will reduce the fire risk posed by balloons’ propane-driven flames and heated burners. Though in past years, balloon pilots were instructed to fly vertically from the event venue in Snowmass Town Park, balloons — and their burners — ran the risk of drifting and landing in brushed areas.

“This community is concerned about wildfire, and rightly so — we’re still in extreme drought,” said John Mele, Roaring Fork Fire Rescue fire marshal. “It was a very tough decision to try to come up with celebrating a 50th anniversary and, at the same time, looking out for the safety of the community.”

Apart from the grounding, the balloon festival will still continue as planned. It runs from 6-9 p.m., Sept. 12, with the “Night Glow,” where spectators can pass through lit up grounded balloons. From 7-9 a.m., Sept 13-14 — the times previously scheduled for balloon flight — 15 hot air balloons will inflate each morning on the ground, according to a press release. Attendees can purchase coffee, pastries, t-shirts, and participate in other activities. 

Snowmass Tourism Senior Events Producer Shane Vetter believes the fire-related cancellation is the first of its kind in town — though, balloon flights have been canceled during the festival’s 50-year tenure for weather-related reasons. Vetter said two of the six balloon flights during the festival over the past three years were canceled due to weather. 

The fire-related restriction comes as the region is classified under “Extreme Drought,” the second worst of four drought classifications by the National Integrated Drought Information System. Pitkin County has also been under Stage 2 fire restrictions since Aug. 8, which prohibit off-road driving — which would have been necessary if the hot air balloons had been allowed airborne — along with open fires, use of fireworks and explosives, smoking by flammable materials or outside in non-designated areas, and more. 

Mele said the county will move back into Stage 1 fire restrictions on Friday.

“We’re not out of the woods yet with a Stage 1,” he said. “It still does prohibit open flame unless you’re in a designated, approved area.”

Stage 1 fire restrictions also still advise the public not to park on dry grass and to never throw cigarettes on the ground, among other restrictions.

For more information about the Snowmass Balloon Festival, visit aspensnowmass.com/visit/events/snowmass-balloon-festival

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.