Northampton Balloon Festival 2012

So another Northampton Balloon Festival comes to the end, what a year it was!

Northamptonshire saw three mass assents across the weekend, regular balloon tethering in the arena and a hugely popular night glow enjoyed by Balloonists and members of the public alike.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that came along to watch the balloons, the balloonists and Billing Aquadrome for giving us a fantastic venue for the event.

Date for your diary, 16-18 August 2013, see you there.

Image courtesty of Kevin Viney

As in previous years there will be morning and evening launches on all three days weather permitting, as well as the famous Saturday night glow, where the balloons will light up in time with music.

Throughout the weekend there will be ballooning memorabilia available to buy as well as balloonists having their baskets set up at the set times for you to have your photo taken in.

We have ordered some nice weather, lets hope it arrives on time.

A full programme of events can be found here

We shall see you all bright and early for the first launch of 2012 Northampton Balloon Festival this Friday 17 August at 6 am.

Meet Director Barry Newman said “Billing Aquadrome provides a good location for the Balloon Festival and we are delighted that the event will be secure for at least another 3 years. It is one of the events that Northampton is known for around the world.”

The organisers are now hoping for good ballooning weather over the weekend to allow the flights and the famous Saturday night “balloon glow” to take place.

This year 35 Hot air balloons are entered for the event and details of those attending and other useful information can be found here on the official website.

It now includes, by popular demand, Mini Bus and Coach entry pricing.

Pedestrians Adults – £5 Child (5-15 yrs) – £2.50

Vehicles (all prices include passengers & secure parking) Car – up to 5 persons – £10

MPV (up to 8 people max) – £25

Mini-Bus (up to 16 people max, must be booked in advance) – £50.00

Coach (up to 52 people max, must be booked in advance) – £150.00

Motorbikes – £10

The 2012 Northampton Balloon Festival will take place between 17-19 August 2012 at Billing Aquadrome. Want a sneek peek of the balloons that are attending? Find more information here.

Want to get a taste of things to come? We have updated the balloons booked to attend page showing you a selection of balloons that will be at the 2012 Northampton Balloon Festival.

Please note, special shape balloons are even more weather dependant than standard shape balloons.

Northampton Balloon Festival

With only 6 months left to go until The Northampton Balloon Festival 2012 kicks off, the 2012 balloonist application forms are now available to download.

The event takes place between Friday 17th to Sunday 19th August 2012 at Billing Aquadrome for the 4th time.

Keep your eyes peeled on the website over the coming months as news is announced and as balloon entries are confirmed.

Download here

The 2012 event will take place between 17-19 August at Billing Aquadrome

We are still sifting through the hundreds of e-mails we recieved during the weekend with all of your fantastic photographs, we hope to have the 2011 galleries online in the next day or so.

Several Balloons braved the windy conditions on Friday evening and around 20 balloons flew Saturday morning and evening.

The nightglow was a huge sucess on Saturday evening with thousands in attendance and for the first time at Billing Aquadrom we had Balloons inflated during the glow.

About 15 balloons took off between the Showers on Sunday morning heading towards the east of Northamptonshire.

The next pilot briefing is at 6pm, remember, if you have any pictures from this years event, please e-mail them to web@thenorthamptonballoonfestival.co.uk