Well, I started out crewing back in the early 80s and I got my pilot's license in 2002.
The people that come out and enjoy it, I think that's why a lot of us volunteer to do this.
Whether we flown balloons or we help out with the balloon classic, it's just great to see
people having a great time enjoying themselves.
They tend to forget what's going on in their lives for a few hours.
All of the colors and it's just fun.
Yeah, it is kind of a sad thing.
It's been around for a long time and it's always been something that got me started in ballooning.
And of course, I would love to stay here and fly some more, but...
I think it's good family time.
It's something to look forward to.
I love it.
It's such a staple in our city.
It's something to look forward to every year.
Get up early in the morning, get the kiddos ready, get some hot chocolate and donuts on
the way out and come out and just have a good time with all the kids.
All of the excitement, all of the people, you know, it's just a good atmosphere.
My favorite part of watching them is watching them fly out.
There's no reason why it couldn't be.
There's a lot of support for it in town from people and from ballooning, so I think it
could possibly happen.
We're seeing the crowds increase and I think we'll see it even more tonight and tomorrow
for our final flight.
We'll see.
We've had a lot of people from the public come up and talk to us and tell them how sad
they are.
We're leaving and we wish, you know, they're hoping something's going to change this next
year.
So we've got great support from the public and we really, really appreciate their support
and their support over the years.
I think the big thing is the controversy and the conversation with people about what's
going to happen.
Because nobody knows for sure.
I think everybody on the leadership team this year is really focused on delivering a good
2014 balloon classic, but right now everybody's just really focused on making sure we do a
good job for these three days.
I wouldn't really travel too far, but sure.
I mean, I have gone all the way to the Albuquerque to watch it.
There's just no telling at this point.
There's been a lot of people in a lot of different places that have been interested, but that's
a business decision that that path team needs to make.
If you've never seen a balloon fly or been up close to balloons, that needs to be on your
bucket list.
And this is a perfect opportunity.
Balloon rallies like this are not common anymore and becoming more and more rare.
So I really, you know, if you're not having an opportunity to see a balloon classic or
balloon rally like this, this is a tremendous opportunity to do that.
I think everybody's very, very used to the Memorial Park and coming out here, people
have told me they've grown up with the classic.
They've been out here before they can walk and they come out every year and they're really
sad to see that tradition changing.
So I think people in general would love to have it here if they could have it here.
