Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

We are excited to announce that even though the festivities for Labor Day Weekend had to be put on hold, Hot Air Balloons will return to the Cordele skies August 21-23, 2020! We had a phenomenal turnout for the Balloon Glow at the Crisp County Sports Complex back in June and are excited to do a ‘repeat performance’ in August! Last time we were successful following the guidelines and best practices outlined by the CDC and The Governor’s Office and we are confident we can do so again!

“The balloon glow was such a treat back in June; we are so happy they have agreed to come back again so that anyone who missed it will have another opportunity to come out and see them,” said Chamber of Commerce President Monica Simmons.

The majority of the pilots traveling to Cordele this weekend come from the surrounding area; Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, and over the past few years have fallen in love with Cordele and its hospitality, and are looking forward to one more chance to get some local watermelons and produce from the farmers market!

One of the largest and most complex hot air balloons ever built has recently found a new home in Cordele, Georgia and will be making his debut at the Socially Distanced Balloon Glow! ‘Sunny Boy’ is 145 feet tall and 135 feet wide and is bright eyed on one side and has cool shades on the other. He has more than enough surface area to light up the skies of Cordele and Crisp County!

At the Socially Distanced Balloon Glow, in an attempt to prevent large gatherings of people and to help with social distancing, the balloonists will be inflating their aircraft in the parking lot of the Crisp County Youth Ball Complex right in front of fields 1-5. The public is encouraged to come and ‘drive-by’ the balloons starting at 8:30 pm on Friday, August 21^st . The glow will last about 45 minutes to an hour. You can enter the ball complex from either Pecan St or 8^th Avenue and drive through to view the balloons. The glow will be weather dependent; light winds less than 6 knots, and no rain or thunderstorm activity in the area. The rain/inclement weather date for the Balloon Glow will be Saturday, August 22^nd at the same time and location.

The balloons will also be flying over Cordele Saturday morning as well as Sunday morning. Balloons typically fly right at sunrise and within 2 hours of sunset, when the winds are calm and the weather is the most stable. You can look for the balloons in the sky starting between 6:30 and 7:00 am on Saturday and Sunday. There are teams of people who ‘chase’ the balloons once they have taken off and try to determine where they will land based on where they took off and where the wind is taking them. If you would like to follow along, you can go like the ‘Watermelon Days Hot Air Balloon Festival’ Page on Facebook where the pilots will be posting weather updates and where they are taking off from shortly before each flight. If you come across a balloon that has landed, feel free to approach, look, and ask questions in small numbers, and remember to remain socially distanced! The link to the Facebook page is www.facebook.com/watermelonballoons

This will be the fourth consecutive year that The Cordele-Crisp Tourism Council has provided the resources to fund and bring the hot air balloons to Cordele and it could not be done without them! A special thanks to them for their hard work and support each year!

For More Information please contact

Monica Simmons
Cordele-Crisp Chamber of Commerce
(229) 273-1668