00:00 I just love balloons really. Obviously now I get to fly my own balloon and everything.
00:03 It's just the freedom it gives you. And I mean just by watching, they're just stunning
00:07 views to watch over Bristol and stuff like that really.
00:10 So we're here today as aliens, obviously with our leader, that one blowing up behind us.
00:15 So yeah, we're just gonna run around to everyone basically.
00:19 The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta was founded on the weekend of the 7th to the 9th
00:25 of September 1979. A small gathering of like-minded balloonists came together to celebrate the
00:31 first ever Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. And almost 50 years later, the fiesta has
00:38 become as iconic to Bristol as Wallace and Gromit, Concord and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
00:45 Let's chat to some of the fiesta's visitors to find out more.
00:50 So the balloon fiesta is obviously a large gathering of balloons, high-air balloons,
00:57 to essentially do as many mass ascents as we can over the weekend.
01:01 So I've been working in ballooning my entire life, but I sort of stopped flying commercially
01:06 in '35. When I was 35 I decided to just have a bit of fun in the final years.
01:11 Ballooning started as an interest as a young child, so I've been flying balloons for 26
01:17 years. It's, well, I make a career out of it, it's a fantastic thing to do. I get paid
01:23 to have fun, what more can I say?
01:26 The cost of living crisis has been a very real worry for Bristolians, but in line with
01:31 the fiesta's original ethos, it remains entirely free.
01:37 It's very expensive, running these things is not cheap, so you know, the pressure's
01:41 on for everyone. But having an event where everyone can come together and just enjoy
01:44 it, it's unique.
01:45 Oh, it's great that people travel to the fiesta, like, it's just mental that some people
01:50 travel so far and everything, really. It's just amazing.
01:53 One for us to have the Bristol Balloon Festival here, it's our chance to shine, all our customers
01:58 bring their balloons here, it's a great chance to catch up with our customers. People come
02:02 from around the world, we've got teams from Belgium here, a lot of teams from across the
02:07 country, so it's fantastic to see everyone, certainly here in Bristol.
02:10 It means a lot. So this is my 10th or 11th fiesta, it's actually a critical reason I
02:16 came to the university in the first place. There's no place in England like Bristol.
02:21 It's the reason I get out of bed in the morning. I mean, ballooning's really special. So ballooning's
02:26 quite rare, the great British weather makes it hard to go ballooning. When you get out,
02:33 I tell you now, when you get out you feel like you've won something, you really feel
02:36 like you've won the lottery in the morning when you get out in a balloon.
02:38 So I think it's an iconic Bristol attraction, with Cameron Balloons obviously in Bristol,
02:45 so it's a historical event.
02:48 Today the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta attracts over 500,000 spectators. Only time
02:56 will tell if the increasing cost in balloon prices allows the fiesta to stand the test
03:02 of time.
Comments