It’s Day 226 of “365 Things to do in Cincinnati” and today we’re featuring Balluminaria, a hot air balloon event at Eden Park.
This event is free and takes place at Mirror Lake at Eden Park. Over a dozen hot air balloons were hoisted into standing position for the show along the lake and they put on quite a show.
This was the our first visit to Balluminaria. It was a rather warm day for the end of November (50-ish) and we were glad about that! We arrived shortly after 4pm (the event went from 4 to 6) and walked up just as the balloon owners were unpacking and setting up.
We walked around the lake for a while, enjoying the carolers and the brass band. There were clowns to entertain the children and I heard that Santa was supposed to be there but we didn’t see him.
As the four o’clock hour progressed, more and more balloons were being put into place and partially filled. The sun was almost gone so we found a spot to take a seat and got ready for the show.
It was dark enough to start the show shortly after 5pm.
The balloons and their reflection on the lake were pretty spectacular. We sat on the wall at the end of the lake for most of the show and it was great to be up high where we didn’t have to fight the crowd and could enjoy the reflection. Towards the end we decided to try to get a bit closer…
And I’m glad we did because it was pretty cool to get to see them up close.
I would highly recommend this event. It is very kid friendly. Next year we will take some folding chairs or a blanket to sit on. They had food for sale there but (if permitted) we’ll take a cooler next year too and enjoy a picnic dinner. That is if the weather is as nice as it was this weekend!
Balluminaria takes place at Eden Park. Watch the Cincinnati Park Districts event page for next year’s event.
Does the smiley-faced balloon have 2 separate faces (one wink side)? I happened to notice that in the photos.
How funny! i went back and looked and it does indeed look like it’s winking! The “opened” eye is actually folded over in that pic because the balloon was being inflated at the time. Thanks for pointing that out, V. How cool!
Actually it does have two faces. One is winking; the other is not. Note the two photos you have on this page. The balloon is owned by Bella Balloons. Check them out as they have several balloons they use for flights!