Watch out above: Thurston Classic returns to Meadville skies
Balloon pilot Alex Jonard II, event director for this week’s Thurston Classic, brings plenty of experience with him to the position.
Not only did Jonard participate in the first Thurston Classic in 1988 and every one since then, he has lifted off for a total of approximately 1,000 hot air balloon flights during his decades as a pilot.
“With an equal amount of successful landings,” Jonard was quick to add during a phone interview Tuesday.
In fact, the number of successful landings is a bit higher than the number of takeoffs: When feasible, pilots will go through a series of two or three landings at the end of a flight for practice.
But doesn’t each successive landing imply a takeoff as well? Or are abbreviated ascents at the end of a flight somehow different in nature than the initial launch?
And as long as we’re asking ballooning-related questions, how far — and how long — can one of those things fly? What does it run on? How many miles-to-the-gallon does it get? If you need a hot air balloons to fly in the summer, could you get away with warm air ballon in the winter?
Jonard and other pilots will weigh in on hot air head-scratchers like those and more during the four-day event.
During the flights planned for Friday and Saturday evening, Jonard explained, rather than leave spectators with nothing to do once balloons inflate and fly away, this year several balloons will remain on the field. Both “Lucky,” the towering shamrock-shaped featured balloon, and “Legal Eagle,” the balloon formerly owned by longtime event leader Ted Watts, will be among the balloons that spectators can take a closer look at.
“We fly away and they (spectators) don’t know how we land — or how do we get them back in the bag?” Jonard said. “We’ll have that to demonstrate this year as well. Weather permitting, we’ll drop the security line and have them come in and ask questions, a little Q-and-A session. They can get up-close-and-personal.”
The festivities lift off with the Joyce Stevens Memorial Night Glow shortly after sunset Thursday and continue with an evening race the next day. Saturday brings morning and evening races, and the fun concludes with a morning race on Sunday. Allegheny College’s Robertson Athletic Complex, 204 Park Ave., will host the Night Glow and will serve as either takeoff and landing area for each of the flights. All of the events are weather dependent.
Pilot Roger Miller of Meadville looks forward to the Father’s Day weekend tradition each year. “It’s my hometown rally,” he said Tuesday. “I love it.”
Miller began working as a crew member for other Meadville-area pilots in the early 1990s before earning his pilot’s license and flying in the Thurston Classic later in the decade. More than 25 years later, he has cut back on some of the other balloon rallies he attends, but wouldn’t miss this one.
The serenity of floating above the earth in the gondola of “Daydreamer,” his 90,000-cubic-feet balloon with multicolored vertical stripes above black scallops and a black skirt, is relaxing and even therapeutic, according to Miller.
“I just like the freedom of being able to get in my balloon with the help of my crew and go up and just get to float in the air for as long as I can at times,” he said. “There’s nothing better than getting in a balloon and going for a flight.”
While some like to cruise over downtown Meadville when the winds are right, Miller tries to arrange things so he heads over rural areas. He enjoys the view of farms laid out toward the horizon and the chance to see wildlife reacting to the unexpected visitor from above.
“They hear it before they ever see it,” he said, referring to the roar of the propane burners that fuel the balloons. Sometimes, the sound will send deer running while other times he’ll catch sight of turkeys or foxes as the balloon silently approaches.
For Jonard, it’s the sight of familiar faces and the reception from appreciative crowds that stand out as highlights from more than three decades of Thurston Classics.
“That’s what it’s all about,” he said, recalling one family that followed his balloon year after year. “It’s not about us coming to compete or coming for good food. It’s about putting on a show that people want to come to and spend time with their families, especially on Father’s Day.”
The event’s longevity, he added, is a testament to how the community values the event.
“That’s special,” he stressed, “that’s special.”
YOU CAN GO
The 34th Thurston Classic takes place Thursday through Sunday at Robertson Athletic Complex, 204 Park Ave. The free event begins with the Joyce Stevens Night Glow shortly after sunset Thursday. For more information on the event, visit thurstonclassic.com or check the event’s Facebook page.