« Balloon Disappointment »

The Albany Art and Air Festival is a big event every August that kicks off with early morning hot air balloon launches. The festival lasts three days, Friday though Sunday, and this year it happened to be my birthday weekend. We planned a camping trip to the coast so we were unable to attend much of the festivities. However, we got up at the crack of dawn on Friday morning to catch the balloon liftoff before heading out on our camping adventure. Dozens of balloons and support teams, plus hundreds of spectators covered the field at Timber-Linn Park. The first balloon to go up would carry a US flag into the air. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and due to winds that were slightly outside of the safety envelope, none of the balloons were able to take off that morning. They continued to fill the first balloon and monitor the winds right up until the decision was made to stay on the ground. The crowd began to disperse. We were certainly disappointed that we could not come back the following day, but there's always next year. I took this shot shortly before leaving. I sympathized with the young lady's expression.