Story
by Linda East Brady
, Standard-Examiner staff
- Aug 26 2011 - 5:17am
Once again, big, beautiful orbs will take to the sky alongside your morning commute -- launching the sixth annual Antelope Island Stampede and Balloon Festival.
Mind you, if you are behind the wheel, we advise paying close attention to traffic. But if you can, peek over to the west at about 7 a.m. Friday. Hot-air balloons galore will be taking to the air along Davis County's Interstate 15 corridor.
"The mass launch is the sort of unofficial start of the festival, which actually opens officially at 5 p.m. (Sept. 2) on Antelope Island," said Kathi Dysert, director of sales and marketing for the Davis Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the organization that presents the festival. "But that is a wonderful sight to see on the morning of the first day of the festival."
At about 5:30 p.m. that day, skydivers will land on the island, and a quad-kite demonstration team, IFly, will follow with a little dazzling flying of its own.
In the late afternoon, a second balloon launch is scheduled, weather permitting. This will be sometime between about 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., when conditions are best.
At 7 p.m., Kahuna Beach Party -- a Beach Boys and surf-music tribute band from Denver -- will take the stage in a concert that promises great harmonies, sunny tunes and entertainment for the family.
Fireworks will close out the night, as they will for all three nights of the festival -- a first this year. Dysert said they brought the pyrotechnics display to the entire festival due to popular demand.
"We want to make this event appeal to as many people as possible," said Dysert. "I think, with the music and the events, like having the BMX demonstrations over the weekend, we are really working to find those things."
The festival continues Sept. 3 and 4, with balloon launches at 7 a.m. (weather permitting) and daylong activities including horseback riding and live music from area bands.
The entrance to Antelope Island is seven miles west of Interstate 15's Exit 332 (Syracuse-Freeport Center). The cost to get onto the island (and into the festival) is $15 per carload, at the gate.
For more information, call 801-774-8200 or go to www.antelopeislandstampede.com.