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Flights return to Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival

After a year off because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a fleet of colourful balloons has returned to the 34th annual edition of the event.

Sep 03, 2021 • September 3, 2021 • 2 minute read • Join the conversation

The flights on Friday were the first in two years for the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

A capricious gust of wind can send a hot-air balloon almost anywhere, as we've seen over the three-decade history of the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival.

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Newspaper coverage over the years has documented balloons that have been forced to land on residential streets, store parking lots, city parks, cemeteries, the Mer Bleue bog and, one memorable year, the OC Transpo Transitway, which was the touchdown spot for a giant beagle-shaped balloon that stopped traffic in 2007.

After a year off because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a fleet of colourful balloons has returned to the 34th annual edition of the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival. Happily, conditions were ideal for the first flights on Friday morning.

On a fairly clear day with a gentle breeze, three balloons lifted off at the crack of dawn, rising from the festival site at La Baie Park beside the Gatineau River and floating up to 2,000 feet over the city, drifting southeast. This reporter was one of four passengers and two crew members in a craft piloted by Martin Isabelle, 43. Our balloon was as orange as an NDP campaign sign.

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Unlike the first flight I took more than 20 years ago, which nicked treetops on the descent and came down hard in a graveyard, Friday's hour-long ride was blissful: We saw the sun rise over the Ottawa River, identified landmarks like Rideau Hall and the former Ottawa City Hall, watched the cars join the morning rush hour and saw a couple of planes take off below us at Macdonald–Cartier International Airport. (Festival personnel are in close contact with airport authorities.)

Martin Isabelle has been piloting hot-air balloons for more than a decade. He's one of the pilots at this year's edition of the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival, which continues through Monday. Photo by Lynn Saxberg /Postmedia

Even the landing was smooth. We came down in a dewy field off Earl Armstrong Road in the city's rural south end, and the pilot was able to "walk" the balloon closer to the road with small bursts of gas while we were still in the basket, saving our shoes from being soaked.

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Isabelle, who's from the ballooning hotspot of Saint Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., told us he's been flying balloons for 11 years. The former demolition derby driver got into the sport through his parents, long-time volunteers with Ciel en Fête, an international balloon festival in Saint Jean-sur-Richelieu that takes place in August.

Isabelle's parents, Florent and Simone, are volunteering in Gatineau this weekend, too. They were part of the chase team that followed their son's balloon on Friday. They helped pack it into a trailer and then joined crew and passengers for transportation back to the festival site, where we all raised a glass of bubbly (non-alcoholic apple cider) as Isabelle offered a prayer of thanks for the "softness" of the wind.

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In previous years, the festival has welcomed dozens of balloons from around the world. Due to pandemic-related travel restrictions, there are just 13 balloons this year, supplied by the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu-based operator, La magie de l'air, and the number of rides available is limited. The cost is $325 plus taxes per person.

If you miss out or the weather conditions don't co-operate, there are plenty of other things to do at the festival, including concerts, family activities, an amusement park and nightly fireworks. COVID-19 measures include a site-capacity limit, sanitizing stations, masks and a vaccine passport check at the gate.

For complete details, including information on how to book a ride, go to fmg2021.com.

lsaxberg@postmedia.com

Hot air balloons fly over Gatineau on Friday morning. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

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