Dansville Balloon Fest: More pictures from 2009 with new ones on the way

Reprinted from Sept of '09

The weather swerved from summer to fall for our planned Dansville weekend, so we changed our camping plans despite how much we love the balloons. We'd hoped to be camping at Skybrook Campground, but will drive down on Monday instead. I'll take the camera and return with fresh pics. These are from last year...  ~Jim, 2010

 
DANSVILLE, NY (2009) First one, then another, then three more and a dozen -- hot air balloons cleared the launch field and battled for suddenly-crowded air space at the Dansville Airport.
This montage of photographs details the lift-off of nearly 50 dazzling aircraft at Dansville's Festival of Balloons (NYSFB at Dansville). Final pictures, featuring the "special" entrants, will be published later this week.

It takes a big burn to get airborne. This balloonist blistered three large holes in his craft.

They bump, they push and shove. First one to get clear wins!

This colorful herringbone-patterned balloon went straight up.

Looks like some sort of financial chart. "Things are looking up!"

Black diamonds are good, right? Background: herringbone gets some air.

An elegant balloon showing only blue and white finds the clouds, higher and higher.

These two look like they're headed for a collision. It's just an illusion.

Three of the more exotic color patterns gain altitude and solitude.

One monstrous eye looks on as a crazy-quilt of colors soars overhead.

Two pairs of balloonists head heavenward. They soon joined the crowd, nearly out of sight.

Top to bottom: more and more balloons sail to the northwest of Dansville, and toward the horizon.
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In all, more than 40 hot air balloons filled the sky on that spectacular Sunday evening at Dansville. 2009 was a beautiful Labor Day Weekend for ballooning. See the earlier balloon pics here. Final batch of exotic-design balloon pics soon.

All photos copyright 2009 - reprints available on request.