One of my favorite events of the year is this weekend at downtown’s Memorial Park in Colorado Springs. Get ready for the Labor Day Liftoff hot air balloon festival! There are three ways to enjoy this beloved annual tradition:
- Get up early in the morning to watch the balloons take off. It’s spectacular! Don’t miss the “splash and dash” when balloons dip their baskets into Prospect Lake after taking off. (Here’s my daughter when she was little, cocoa in hand, but still smiling at being up for this event at 6 a.m.!)
- Attend one of the nightly balloon “glows“ (weather permitting of course). Enjoy live music, walk around and meet the balloon pilots, trade balloon cards, and then do the glow countdowns when all the balloons light up same time. It’s beautiful, and fun for the whole family. Note – it’s dark though, so bring strollers for little ones to help keep track of them.
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If the idea of showing your face in public at 6 a.m. on a weekend morning doesn’t thrill you, you can always grab your coffee and donuts and enjoy from the car! There are many great viewing spots close to Memorial Park where you can find a quiet street. Balloons tend to drift off to the south and east, so keep an eye on which way they’re headed and try to score a spot where they go right overhead!
Let me know if you plan to go! We’ll see you there!