You may recognize High River, Alberta as the setting for the fictional town of Hudson if you watch the TV series Heartland (now in Season 12!). Otherwise, if you’re not from Calgary or southern Alberta, High River might be completely unfamiliar to you. However, the annual Heritage Inn International Balloon Festival is really starting to put this 13,600 population town on the map!
The 4-day festival hosts a variety of events, including passenger flights available to the public, as well as competitions based on a number of criteria, but the highlight is Balloon Glow night, typically held on the Friday of the festival.
Balloon Glow is a free family evening with food trucks, live entertainment and balloon demonstrations, with the main event happening after the sun goes down. At this point, all the balloon operators synchronize (at least, as much as hot air balloons can synchronize) to light up at the same time, and stay lit for a period of time during which guests can stroll around, look at the balloons and flight mechanisms up close and, of course, take some fantastic and unique photos!
I attended Balloon Glow in September 2017, and was even more impressed than I expected to be! I’ve always been awed by hot air balloons, and one of my bucket list items is to go up in one, so it was really amazing to see the balloons up close and all lit up like this.
Check out this year’s Heritage Inn International Balloon Festival, running from September 25 – 29, 2019. I’ll see you at the Balloon Glow night!
