Eugene Celebration finances looking up.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Floating low above Alton Baker Park in a wicker basket, it's easy to feel as if there's not a worry in the world. You don't so much fly as levitate, and even though you're only 100 feet off the ground, it still seems as if you're a world away from the upturned heads of the spectators below you.

Perhaps that's why the Eugene Celebration chose hot air balloons as a theme for this year's festival, the 25th installment of the end-of-summer blowout.

"Having balloons over downtown is something I don't think anyone is going to forget," said Matt Purvis, the chairman of the board for Downtown Events Management Inc., the nonprofit organization that oversees the festival.

If the weather cooperates, at least five balloons will be hovering over Eugene during the festival, which happens downtown Sept. 7-9. Organizers say they won't be offering rides to the public - the balloons are merely a visual spectacle to go along with the festival theme of "Lighten Up."

DEMI board member Monica Shovlin said the balloons are being underwritten by sponsors, with sponsorship starting at about $1,250. About 10 sponsorships would allow the festival to break even on the project, she said. So far, organizers have signed two sponsors, Cumulus Broadcasting and The Register-Guard.

The perennially cash-strapped festival has a budget of $250,000, and hot air balloons may seem a bit of a gamble, but so far it's an expense that's paying off, Shovlin said.

She said several potential sponsors who haven't signed on in previous years have expressed interest in having their name on a balloon this year.

"We figured the excitement about balloons had marketing value," she explained. "This is not just an add on, it's integral to the theme of the festival."

The Eugene Celebration has had financial difficulties in the past, but Shovlin said the skies appear to be clearing. The problems started in 2001, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, and continued in 2004 when a torrential downpour marred the proceedings and forced organizers to consider changes.

DEMI laid off its director and hired the event management firm Big Green Events. The celebration switched to a smaller footprint, lowered its ticket prices from $15 to $10 and made an effort to avoid scheduling conflicts with University of Oregon home football games.

The new recipe appears to be working. The festival has been aggressive at seeking grants, including a recent one from the Oregon Community Foundation, and last year's event even made a little money.

The festival has dug itself out of a $55,000 debt and is financially solvent, Shovlin said. The only variable remaining, organizers say, is the weather.

Even if the weather doesn't cooperate, balloons still will take flight over downtown to announce the celebration's presence, but they'll be tethered to the ground, said the event's chief balloon operator, a Portland pilot who goes by the name Kong.

A balloonist who daylights as the tour manager for indie rock band the Decemberists and gospel singer Mavis Staples, Kong was in town this week conducting test flights in an 85-foot-tall balloon called "I'll Take You There." On Thursday, he took off from the Cuthbert Amphitheater, offering tethered rides to organizers, members of the media and a few lucky kids.

Kong and his crew unrolled a massive tarp, then pulled the 225-pound balloon out of a sack the size of a bean bag.

They affixed a pair of propane burners to a wicker basket, also known as a gondola, then used a massive fan to inflate the balloon, or the envelope as it's sometimes called, with cold air.

The pilot tipped the basket upright and blasted hot air into the void, which sent the vessel skyward. The entire process took about 20 minutes.

"Do these things ever run into each other in the air?" someone asked.

"Yeah, we call that kissing," explained Kong, who once took a balloon ride from California to Ohio.

The ride on this particular day was much shorter and more akin to a very smooth elevator ride. Ideally, the balloon would have been flying untethered but the conditions wouldn't allow that.

By Federal Aviation Administration rules, balloonists in Eugene must fly 1,000 feet above the ground and 1,000 feet below the clouds, but since the cloud ceiling was sitting at about 2,000 feet on this day, that didn't leave much wiggle room, Kong explained.

The first hot air balloon ride was recorded in 1783 when two French brothers sent a sheep, a rooster and a duck into the air. A month later, they carried a human passenger and the sport of ballooning was invented.

Today, there are dozens of balloon festivals throughout the country, including one in Walla Walla, Wash., that first captured Kong's attention 35 years ago.

"A guy flew over my house when I was 12 years old," he recalled. "I went up (in his balloon) four days later. It was amazing. I still feel the same way."

The Eugene Celebration will be a far cry from massive balloon festivals such as the 800-balloon Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which takes place in October, but organizers say they hope their event grows into a small regional attraction for balloonists.

A tethered float above Alton Baker Park is a pretty tame affair, but there's still something exhilarating about hanging in midair supported only by hot air and rip-stop nylon. The only sounds are the chirping of birds, the meowing of a feral park cat and the occasional blasting of the propane burners, which shoot orange and blue flames 15 feet into the air at the touch of a button. Together, the burners can produce an astonishing 28 million British Thermal Units of heat.

"You can heat a four-bedroom home from zero to 60 degrees in 30 seconds," Kong said half-jokingly.

Kong checked the horizon and scanned his surroundings frequently, but said piloting a balloon is really more about "feeling" than seeing.

If left untouched, a balloon will quickly crash back to Earth, but Kong maintained precision control over his balloon with the flick of his burners.

There is no landing gear on a balloon basket, but in the case of this flight, touching down was less jarring than stepping off a curb. The balloon settled back to Earth just a few feet away from where it launched, another passenger climbed aboard and Kong returned to the air.

From the ground, the scene was slightly less spectacular, but there was still something captivating about the rainbow-hued balloon. Maybe it was the bright colors or the massive size of the vessel. Or maybe it was the simple physics of it all - hot air rises and so, too, does the balloon.

Or maybe the upturned heads of the spectators on the ground told the story. Even in a highly controlled flying environment, it was difficult for anyone to take their eyes away from the spectacle. The balloon was tethered in three different spots, the wind was non-existent and there was hardly an obstacle in sight.

And yet, there it was, an eight-story balloon rising and falling in the heart of the city, which is something you don't see every day.

EUGENE CELEBRATION

The Eugene Celebration is scheduled for Sept. 7-9 in downtown Eugene. Three-day admission bands are $10. Children age 12 or younger are free. For more information, call 681-4108 or go to www.eugene celebration.com.