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Balloons Over Waikato Trust
Balloons burst all records in birthday year
Balloonist Liaison Manager, Jenni Muhlmann-Brown, says
“Ensuring that as many people as possible can access and
enjoy the festival is an important part of what Balloons over
Waikato is all about. Funding is a crucial part of this – we
couldn’t continue to run the festival as a free event without it.”
One of the lovely things about the festival is that the balloons
are highly visible: gracing the city’s skies before, during and
after the festival.
“People can see the balloons flying over their own backyards,”
says Jenni. “So even if they can’t get to one of the organised
events, they can still enjoy the display.”
Balloons over Waikato is New Zealand’s largest event of its
kind, attracting visitors locally, nationally and internationally.
In its current form, under the auspices of the Balloons over
Waikato Trust, the festival has been running for 16 years. But
even before that, it was a popular local event: so popular, that
eventually a trust was established to oversee it.
Trust Waikato donated $20,000 in 2014 to Balloons over
Waikato Trust, helping ensure the festival remains a highlight
of the region’s year.
Balloons over Waikato is an iconic
event in the Waikato regional
calendar. In 2014, the event was
even more significant, incorporating
a celebration in honour of the
University of Waikato’s 50th and the
city of Hamilton’s 150th birthdays.
The 2014 five-day festival, with its theme of PartyON, was
attended by around 130,000 people. The nightglow event
attracted the biggest crowds, with around 80,000 people
attending. Thirty-one balloons were on display on the night,
including a gigantic hummingbird, rocket man and Angry
Bird balloons, and an enormous birthday-cake-shaped
balloon. The crowd were entertained by music, an RNZAF
air display, performers, and the spectacle of the fire-lit
balloons glowing in the night sky, followed by the fireworks
extravaganza.
Other highlights of the five-day festival included the early-
morning Hamilton Mass Ascension; the Hamilton City
Ascension with balloons visiting four city parks; the School
Hop; the Friday night City Burn; and Balloons visit Tokoroa.
Undoubtedly one of the best features of the festival, for the
thousands of people who attended, was that it was all free.
$20,000
TRUST WAIKATO
DONATION 2014
80,000
PEOPLE AT
NIGHTGLOW EVENT
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