With this year’s absence of the long-running Gatesway Balloon Festival, an exciting new balloon festival has been announced for Memorial Day Weekend — the Tulsa International Balloon Festival.
The festival starts on May 26th (Thursday) and ends on May 30th (Monday) at Tulsa Raceway Park (Highway 169 and 36th St N.)
If you’ve never been to a balloon festival, this is the one to see. It’s the biggest balloon festival in Oklahoma and one of the biggest in the entire country.
We’ve been to a handful of balloon festivals over the years in Oklahoma and Kansas, but this one in particular has us excited for the weekend for a few different reasons:
1. Night Glows!
One of the coolest things to see at a hot air balloon festival is what is referred to as a night glow. Almost always performed towards the end of the night (and the grand finale of the festival), the crews inflate all of the balloons simultaneously. The balloons all stay on the ground, but the crews light the burners to keep the balloons inflated. This gives off a beautiful effect as the different balloons flicker on and off with the roar of the burners.
Some festivals will use music and fireworks to accent these displays. It’s just ridiculously cool.
2. A HUGE Carnival
If you like rides, this is definitely going to be one more reason to go.
With somewhere around 25 different rides being set up for the big party, thrillseekers from all over Green Country will have plenty of options for fun at this event.
The team behind the Tulsa International Balloon Festival even brought in the ever-popular Zipper by popular demand! Oh — and for those of you wanting a little smoother ride, check out the gorgeous Century Wheel… and make sure you see the light show on this puppy after the sun goes down.
3. Monster Trucks.
Monster trucks are a blast to watch, but you know what’s better than “watching” a monster truck?
Yep. “Riding” in a monster truck. You can do that here.
Is it just me or does this festival already seem way more awesome than a regular hot air balloon festival?
4. Free Kid Friday
If you’ve got youngsters, Friday is going to be the day to go. Fiesta Mart partnered up with Tulsa IBF this year to offer general admission for FREE for kids 15 and younger. How great is that?
We’ll be getting the siblings together (and of course the nieces and nephews, too) for this evening. It’s hard to turn down that kind of saved money!
5. Hot Air Balloon Rides!
It wouldn’t be a hot air balloon festival without a chance to climb into the basket for yourself!
And get this: tethered rides (tied to the ground) are only $20. Feeling a little more adventurous? You can take a full flight on a hot air balloon for only $250.
If you think you might want to get in on one of these rides, make sure you’re there when they start (around 5pm.)
6. $1 Entry Night
Thursday night (5/26) is the first night of the event and might just be the best night to go to the Tulsa IBF.
Why is that? Pepsi teamed up with the Tulsa IBF team to offer entry at only $1 on this night and they’ll do the first evening glow of the festival.
Free parking for this event can hold 8,000 or so vehicles, so you might find that this is one of the busier nights, too.
7. Mmmm… FAIR FOOD!
Admittedly, one of the things I really enjoy about festivals like this is the fair food. I mean, there’s no way I could eat like this every day, but the occasional fair, carnival, or festival make this more of an occasional indulgence. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
8. Morning Launches
Another balloon festival tradition that I would call a “must-see” is a morning launch.
There’s just nothing like seeing 40 hot air balloons take off into the sky in unison. I bet it’s quite a sight to see from the air, too.
9. Got The Need for Speed?
One of the coolest things about having a festival like this at the Tulsa Raceway Park is that you can (seriously) take a ride in real drag car.
This may not be everyone’s thing, but if you think you might be interested in riding in one of these highly engineered beasts, you can have your chance.
10. Helicopter Rides!
If monster trucks, hot air balloons, and dragster aren’t enough, you might just need to hop inside the whirly bird and go for a ride. If you’ve never seen Tulsa from the air, this might be one of the coolest opportunities you can get to look over the ol’ Oil Capitol.
11. Kids In Your Family?
Whether you’re a parent, aunt or uncle, or grandparent, this is a fantastic opportunity to take a kid to something that they’ll never forget.
Kids have a curious fascination with hot air balloons (heck — adults do, too), so seeing something like 40 balloons simultaneously launching (not to mention all the other aforementioned items) will be a memory that they’ll absolutely cherish.
Plus: you get to be the cool adult!