18 years of balloons and still going strong
Flight director Martyn Stacey was delighted to see Balloons Over Waikato take off to a good start, with the weather playing its part.
For 18 years the balloons have been taking to Waikato skies and for all that time Martyn Stacey has made sure they make it there safely.
With the early start on Wednesday morning it didn’t stopthe crowds from rolling into Innes Common. A few early-birds were down to see the balloons set up at 6.30, while hundreds turned out to see them take off a little later in the morning at 7.30 where Balloons over Waikato officially kicked off.
In amongst the milling spectators, Stacey was the one man seeing the whole picture unfold. He’s the guy who will be giving the pilots the nod to take to the sky.
Flight director Martyn Stacey was happy to see the event take off to such a good start yet again. He has been the events balloon flight director for almost 18 years and never gets sick of seeing the balloons take to the air.
“It is a good day when there is good weather to back it up and the balloons get to go,” he said.
All the crowds had a great sight, with 24 balloons on show and six special shapes.
“We have six shapes this year with the three Resene balloons (Boy, Girl and Dingbat), the Wizard, Piranha and the beaver (Bud E Beaver),” Martyn said.
“The shapes make the entertainment for the crowd,” he said.
As the week goes on the crowd numbers only get bigger with Martyn expecting 3000-4000 to come over the next couple of days and more than 100,000 at the Zuru Night Glow.
“When we have the first one it’s so good word gets out, you watch tomorrow it will be much bigger.”
The organisers believe the event will attract around 130,000 people over the whole event.
