Admission to Balloons over Vermilion is $ 10 per person with kids, 12 and under, free with each paid adult. Parking, this year, is free. The event is cash only. There is an ATM on-site, once inside the gates.
Pets are not allowed at the event for safety reasons. Visitors may bring lawn chairs and blankets, but no coolers. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages will be on-sale throughout the venue.
Additionally, there are scheduled to be around 20 food trucks on-site. The event is completely smoke-free.
" Larry Owen and I, both got hooked on ballooning because of the balloon classic,'' said Carlton of the Oldsmobile / Illinois Balloon Classic. " We were both involved with it and fell in love with the sport. We both started our ballooning activities toward the end of the balloon classic years. When the balloon classic ended, we continued to fly. We would fly and land in places, people would come up to us and ask us when we can get a balloon rally back. The desire for a fun activity in our community was great and continued to be desired.''
Carlton said he ran into O ' Shaughnessy and they had a conversation about bringing it back to Vermilion County.
" Dean told me that they had pitched it to several organizations and service clubs, even Vermilion Advantage took a look at it,'' O ' Shaughnessy said. " It just didn ' t seem to fit.''
Trees event at the David S. Palmer Arena in November.
This past March, these two events announced their 2025 Community Impact Award recipients, granting $ 180,000 to 31 organizations supporting area youth and their families.
" I still, to this day, can ' t believe how successful the balloon event and our sister event, Festival of Trees, have become and the significant contributions those events have generated in local grants,'' Carlton said.
In addition to the normal hot-air balloons, there will be also larger-than-life special shape balloons, like " Voluntold " and " Baby Dino."
The excitement isn ' t limited to the sky, there is also a " Up- And-Away 5K " set for 7:30 a. m. on Saturday, June 6.
Runners and walkers are invited to take part in the scenic course, and after the race, participants and others can enjoy a relaxing yoga session led by Merrit Spicer of Yoga on the Go. The one-hour session will begin around 9 a. m.
Additionally, there are six bands that will be performing on the Iroquois Federal stage. In-Bloom starts things at 3 p. m. on Friday, with the Tom Grassman Band at 5:30 p. m. and the day ends with Big Guns at 8 p. m. On Saturday, it ' s Captain Rat & The Blind Rivets at 3 p. m., followed by New Souls at 5:30 p. m. and The Royal Hounds conclude the festivities at 8 p. m.
“ We are incredibly grateful to our entertainment sponsor for stepping up in such a meaningful way,” said Carly Goodwin, Balloons Over Vermilion Event Co-Chair.“ Their support allows us to offer a dynamic lineup that truly elevates the entire weekend experience for our community.”
So, instead of finding an existing organization, they created a new one, according to Carlton.
" Almost all of the original board of directors were volunteers at Illinois Balloon Classic, so they had some experience,'' added Carlton, saying the goal with a 15-20 balloon event.
O ' Shaughnessy, who had worked on the previous balloon classic that halted in 2001, said the key was adding some youth.
" We surrounded ourselves with some young kids because we couldn ' t spell social media,'' he said. " We went 15 years without a balloon festival, so that was a whole generation of kids that didn ' t get to experience this.''
Carlton noted that Julius W. Hegeler and his foundation played a vital role in getting the Balloons Over Vermillion event started and it continues to help them.
Over time, the organization has also added the Festival of
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