Deflation...

Lack of funding grounds New Zealand’s greatest little hot air balloon festival

The very popular Levin hot air balloon fiesta Lift Off Levin, held over Easter weekend since 2005, has been cancelled for lack of funding.

“It is with great regret that we are forced to axe this year’s fiesta, which would have been the 8th year of bringing more than 20 hot air balloons and their pilots to the town, colouring the skies in four days of events,” says Lift Off Levin event manager and flight director Denis Hall.

The Levin Hot Air Balloon Society had made strenuous efforts to raise the necessary funding but had no success. Lift Off Levin relies hugely on the community to help it run successfully, from volunteer crew to traffic management and funding, “Naturally I am very disappointed, and we believe that the people of Levin and the balloonists will feel the loss. I originally started Lift Off Levin to be an event for balloonists, by balloonists - a fun event without the pressures of the larger fiestas. Pilots and their families have returned here year after year because they have enjoyed the real community feel of the event,” said Mr Hall.

The Levin event was renowned for its good weather and morning and evening flights.

”The event has been hugely embraced by the public for its colourful and challenging events including the balloons towing little boats across the lake, the balloons being flown into giant skittles and pilots taking an entire brass band up to perform inflight.”

Lift Off Levin also took the balloons to Wellington for a nightglow on Oriental Bay beach in 2008 and Balloons at the Basin Reserve – another nightglow in 2009.

The decision to cancel had not been taken lightly given the huge popularity of the event and the support it received from Horowhenua and Wellington residents, and visitors further afield, said Mr Hall.

For the past five years, the core funding to ensure the event’s success has come from the Horowhenua Community Trust.  This local trust was distributing around $950,000 annually directly to Horowhenua community organisations. Late last year, the Horowhenua Community Trust ceased to exist. Their sources of funding are now being controlled by a Wellington gaming organisation. Unfortunately Lift Off Levin balloon fiesta could not fully comply with the Wellington-based trusts funding rules, said Mr Hall.

While being left with little choice but to cancel this year’s events, the Levin Hot Air Balloon Society has decided unanimously to begin immediately looking at new fundraising avenues to try to secure a Lift Off Levin fiesta for 2013. – By Tanya Katterns

For further information contact event director Denis Hall 06 3679991 or 0299737733

It's All On - Lift Off Levin 2011

The Horowhenua Balloon Society, with the invaluable assistance of the Horowhenua Community Trust and the Horowhenua District Council, would like to take the opportunity to announce the events of the 2011 Lift Off Levin Festival of Ballooning, being held over the Easter Weekend of April 21 – 25 in Levin. The centerpiece of the event for the public is of course the free Balloon Glow, being held in a new location this year, at Donnelly Park in Levin (map) between 3 and 7pm on the evening of Saturday April 23. The new location allows pilots more scope for flying in and out of the venue in the late afternoon, before returning for a spectacular glow at sunset, with their burners lighting up the night sky in a choreographed display.

A highlight for balloonists will be competing in some new and interesting flying challenges in Levin’s unique microclimate. Balloonmeister Denis Hall, with over 25 years of ballooning experience, is renowned for setting tasks that challenge up-and-coming pilots, as well as intriguing some of the old hands in the sport. “I originally started Lift Off Levin in 2005 (with a grant from the Horowhenua District Council) to be an event for balloonists, by balloonists - a fun event without the pressures of the larger fiestas” says Denis. “That the Horowhenua community values the event so highly and we are able to bring it to them free of charge are bonuses really. Pilots and their families return here year after year because they enjoy the real community feel of the event.”

A new challenge for balloonists this year is an event simply called Skittles! where pilots use their skills and baskets a few feet off the ground to knock over as many oversized pins as they can. This event is scheduled for the morning of Easter Saturday in Donnelly Park, but, as with any ballooning event, may be rescheduled or relocated due to weather conditions.

Making a welcome return this year also is the Second Annual Lake Horowhenua Balloon Regatta and Splash n’ Dash, a spectacular event for those that were there to see it as the balloons made multiple passes over Lake Horowhenua en masse, towing small boats to see who could stay on the water longest. Like most balloon flying events, to catch this one requires an early start, with the first balloons expected over the lake at about 7:15am on the morning of Sunday April 24. Evening flights are also scheduled for the event, but these are more generally affected than the calmer-weather morning flights and tend to be much shorter when they do occur.

The event will round off on ANZAC Day morning, with organizers looking for a suitable way to commemorate the day on a morning flight. For updates on the event, check the website at www.liftofflevin.org.nz or join us on Facebook or Twitter. For more information on the event or flights, contact the balloonmeister Denis Hall on 0299737733.

Burners Off

Well, another Lift Off Levin just flew by over Easter, and what with the Twitter feed, the Facebook page and keeping the website updated, there wasn't an awful lot of time for the blog here. So now, a week later, it's a chance to sit back and reflect a bit more on the event. The photos are starting to flood onto the flickr group, attesting to the fact that there were plenty of photo opportunities, with once again flying on every single day of the event. We've said it before, but this little plain between the ranges and the sea offers some great flying conditions, and this year even offered some new flying options, with some different and interesting new launchsites to take advantage of some very different wind patterns. All the events were flown to showcase pilot's skills, with real competitiveness, but in a spirit that said that the results didn't really matter too much, only to provide bragging/debating rights over a hearty breakfast.

Lift Off Levin relies hugely on the community to help it run successfully, from volunteer crew to traffic management and funding, particularly this year, when we were able to offer a free Nightglow thanks to the assistance of the Horowhenua Community Trust and the Horowhenua District Council. Going by a quick hands-up poll at the Nightglow (nicely done Denis), this also attracted many people from out of town, which of course has the downstream effect of benefitting the town greatly (I can vouch for this personally as we tried to get accommodation on the Saturday night and everything was booked solid). Everyone pitched in as always and that left the balloonists and crew to do their thing and entertain the crowds morning and night. 

Highlights? Where do we start? The Mass Ascension worked well, with the balloons taking off in a steady stream across the town into the southeast corner - not a common flight path, so many of the residents of that area were out in their pyjamas to witness the flying giants passing over their houses. The Nightglow was spectacular as always, with many spectators taking the opportunity to crowd the infield and check out the flames up close and personal. This creates issues with crowds around the balloons limiting space, but pilots, crew and volunteers worked together to safely inflate with minimal disruptions. Being able to do this is a vital part of our event, as it is the only opportunity amongst all the balloon events in New Zealand for people to get close to these massive aircraft. Another highlight was watching the balloons prep and fly out of the picturesque Kimberly Reserve.

My highlight pick however would be the "Regatta" event at Lake Horowhenua, where balloonists competed in two events, the now-traditional "Bump the Blimp", where pilots aim to hit a bunch of helium balloons suspended over the lake, and a new twist, where a small boat is towed across across the lake for the longest possible time without being lifted from the water. Conditions conspired to allow a very gentle breeze across the lake to give some pilots over an hour of boating time as they themselves sailed above the water to the far side, much to the delight of those gathered at the shore. Not only that, but the upper wind allowed those who wished to try the opportunity to fly back over the lake and have another go (and in one case even a third attempt) at improving their boat-towing skills.

All in all, another fantastic event. But we are not ones to rest on our laurels. Time and money colluded to not allow us to run Balloons at the Basin this year, but it is certainly on the agenda for '11. If you have any ideas or comments to make about improving the event, what we did right, or even where we went wrong, please comment below.   

Time to Fire Up

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/local/3531059/Chinese-lanterns-to-brighten-Levin-lift-off

Press Release for Lift Off Levin

YES! The Lift off Levin Organising Committee is delighted to announce at last, that the Levin Hot Air Balloon Festival is definitely on at Easter, thanks to vital assistance from the Horowhenua Community Trust and the Horowhenua District Council. This is a signature event for the Horowhenua and a lot of effort is put in to bringing it to fruition.

The main feature will be a FREE Night Glow at the Levin Show Grounds on Easter Saturday evening.  The event will open with some flights and a tethered balloon at the Village green in Levin on Thursday the 1^st of April. Ballooning competitions will begin at 7 am on Friday 2nd of April with a “Mass Ascension” from the New World and Levin Mall car parks.  Competition flying events will be held each morning of the Easter weekend.  Each of the morning events will begin with a briefing at 6.30 am and a launch at around 7 am. On Saturday morning there will be a flying event that will involve a target set at the Horowhenua Lake Domain and the public are urged to be there before 7.30 am to see the balloons fly in to the target. This is very exciting as the balloonists jockey with each other in an amazing low-level airborne display to gain important points. Sunday morning there will be flying competitions centred on Donnelly Park in Levin at 7.30 am and the Monday event will be decided depending on weather and the success of the preceding ones. Every day that weather permits the Balloons will fly again from 4 pm to dusk but these will be “fun flights” rather than competitions. A special new feature of the Night Glow will be a mass launch of flying Chinese lanterns and they will be released as the finale to the event.  It is important for the uninitiated to know that all ballooning is done in the early morning and the late afternoon just before dusk.  The Show Grounds will open at 3.30 pm for the Night Glow and the balloons will begin the Night Glow just after sunset. The event will be all over by 8.30 pm.

Remember, this is a free, community event so come along and enjoy the spectacle. No dogs or alcohol please.

More FM will provide information/cancellations on the day or check www.liftofflevin.org.nz for updates.

What's Happening With Lift Off Levin?

As an organisation that seeks funding to run our event we, like so many other societies and clubs, must now have charitable status to be eligible for funding from the gaming and other trusts that provide support to many organisations and events. With this in mind, the Horowhenua Balloon Society has been put into recess and a new entity, the Lift Off Levin Charitable Trust, has been formed and is currently awaiting the approval of the Charities Commission to be able to access funding to hold a great event in 2010. Until then, the organisation of the event is ticking over in anticipation of this event. More to come soon.

Coffey (and a flight) in Levin

When it became apparent that Breakfast's McCafe Great Coffey Road Trip was going to be in Levin, it was a pretty safe bet that someone was going to turn up the burners to show off the town's flying abilities. I must admit to some dismay when watching the podcast unfold (didn't catch it live unfortunately), it appeared that would not be the case. Until the end - which is the section that I have included for you here. Of course it made sense to leave it to the end, as weatherman Tamati Coffey was actually taking a ride with local pilot Nathan Murray in ZK-FBQ. live to air. So, great promotion for the town, and ballooning, although more than a little disappointed that our upcoming event didn't actually get a mention. Ah well, here it is anyhow, sorry about the jitters at the start, but it settles down eventually.