Learn what life is like for our team behind the scenes at a major UK balloon event with our weird and wonderful hot air balloons. Together, we revisit the 2024 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta where we attended with a whole host of special shape balloons, bringing you along for the build-up, preparation, and event weekend.
Welcome to this special blog where we look back on the 2024 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta and what it takes to bring that special shape magic back to the launch field. It’s really not as easy as you might think!
Before you read any further, to get a good background into my story of ballooning and how MJ Ballooning started, I recommend reading two-part blog “A Story of Special Shapes: How a Childhood Dream Became Reality” – part 1 and part 2 here.
Since I wrote that piece at the end of 2023 I have gained another two special shape balloons, the first of which being our new character Ralph the Roziere, kindly donated to me at MJ Ballooning and Liam of Bristol Balloon Collectors by Cameron Balloons and RSA Films. The second shape was the J&B scotch whisky bottle, acquired during the summer; our fifth airworthy shape at MJ Ballooning. Grand total now at 10 special shapes with more to come. If you don’t know me, my name is Matt, and thank you for reading this special article.
So, let’s get started.
The balloon fiesta in Bristol is known around the world and it’s what got me interested in ballooning from a young age, therefore I’m always keen to support the event with my balloons as best I can. This year was no different. Looking ahead to August, I spoke to Ben Hardy, managing director of fiesta organisers Richmond Event Management, in the spring about bringing our balloons along.
The rental van to transport all the balloons was paid for and that was all ready to go. As we’re all local or happy to camp at the balloonists’ camp site, there’s no accommodation costs for our team for the fiesta, which is different from other events we attend.
Which balloons to take?
The first thing to consider was which of my special shapes to enter. Joycam Lips was our main flying balloon in 2022 and Slick the Dragon in 2023. But for 2024 I wanted to attempt to get two shapes in the air at once and luckily with fantastic help from pilot Alex Harvey and team, it was looking like we could do just that.
I decided to give Alex our retro coffee jar to fly, sponsored by Maxwell House, as this would be its first fiesta appearance since 1995 and we hadn’t used it much the previous year. After a chat with main pilot at MJ Ballooning, Bradley Lewis, we both decided to attempt to fly the Orange with Slick as backup envelope. Mine and Bradley’s decision of which one to fly would purely come down to conditions on the day. Craig Thompson agreed that if conditions were spot on, he would fly J&B but also had other flying commitments so would completely depend on the day.
I also have a number of old, mainly character, special shapes that no longer fly but are perfect for the tethered displays; Snow White, Ralph the Roziere, Choc Dips, Action Man and Sonic the Hedgehog. After some thought I decided we would take Action Man back after 12 years away and we wanted to debut the new artwork on Ralph. It was a shame to leave Snow White (or the “Playmobil princess” as I’ve also heard it referred to!) and Sonic at home, but we can’t take everything.
Social Media
So, six of my balloons were confirmed as attending and were all posted on our own social media platforms, the fiesta’s channels, and many local Bristol news websites in the build-up throughout the summer, to attract people to the event. Lots of love for Action Man and Slick as expected!
The next part to think about is usually the social media side of things and the content I will be posting over the event weekend on Facebook, Instagram, and X. I am on the field with the rest of our team, either getting ready for a flight, tether, or glow whenever one of my balloons is out the bag. There is nobody else to run the socials, it all comes down to me and it’s a lot of work. So, on a few free evenings in July I do my best to get as much ready as possible to limit the time I have to spend typing out long pieces of text when I’m so busy at the event.
The last few years I have scheduled an early morning Facebook post informing followers of the day’s schedule, then followed by as many updates as I can manage throughout the day. My social media following has significantly grown in recent times with over 13,000 Facebook page followers and during the 2024 fiesta week we reached 1 million Facebook users, something I am very proud of.
Press Launch and Community Launch
The 2024 press launch took place from College Green on Wednesday 24th July, and we were in attendance with our latest addition, the J&B scotch whisky bottle. Hoping to free fly. I always remember seeing pictures of the old Chubb fire extinguisher inflating on the small strip of grass beside the cathedral many years ago and I was excited to be there with a balloon of my own all these years later. Some classic fiesta launches happened right here.
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Pilot Craig and our team got everything ready as best we could and secured the rip panels on the shape. Unfortunately, we had about five other balloons led on top of the bottle for most of the launch so couldn’t do anything. Conditions were fast for round balloons let alone special shapes and by the time we could actually see the green fabric of our balloon, it was simply too late to do anything except tether. A frustrating morning but lots of people enjoyed seeing a giant green whisky bottle on their way to work. Yes, they weren’t dreaming. Perhaps Maxwell House coffee would have been more suitable for an early weekday morning, eh?
Next up for fiesta week Monday to Thursday was a series of planned morning “community” flyouts with a range of launch sites across the city picked giving the flying committee numerous options for whichever wind direction we have on the day. Local “community heroes” would be flown as a thank you for the good they do in their local areas.
The only suitable day turned out to be Tuesday 6th August as sadly the weather was far from ideal for the three other days. Ashton Court bowl was the chosen site as the balloons needed some shelter from the trees upon take off. I was there again with our team and Craig, but this time with the Maxwell House coffee jar instead of J&B. Although we hoped and were ready to fly, it was just too fast for us, but we still managed a 20 minute stand up.
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Getting the balloons ready
So, moving onto loading the rental van up. A small group of us get all the MJ Ballooning and Bristol Balloon Collectors envelopes into two white Luton vans, this time ahead of the event kicking off on Friday morning. It’s hard work, especially lifting Action Man and Thomas! I usually try to arrange this 1-2 days before we’re expected on site so it’s not a mad rush and we have a bit less time pressure. We also had Slick’s basket to fit in, plus all my pins to sell, balloon folders and documentation, and load of other bits and pieces. After a long Wednesday evening we were all set, ready to arrive on site on Thursday afternoon.
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Thursday arrived and I drove over to my grandma’s house in Ashton where I’d be staying for the weekend to drop off all my stuff (clothes, food, tech stuff). I finally passed my driving test in June, and I could have driven to and from the site, but I’d rather walk up and back as I’ve been doing this every year since 2015. It also brings back some nostalgia and childhood memories for me, like the overhanging trees revealing Churchill and Monster led out ready to tether as I walked round the path with my mum and dad 20 years ago. Oh, how I miss those balloons!
Arrival and check in
After that I headed to Ashton Court with Dan of Bristol Balloon Collectors and Jayden. A very rainy Ashton Court. I’ll be honest with you, it wasn’t the sort of weather that filled me with confidence heading into the fiesta weekend, the rain was torrential, and the grass was already being churned up. I got absolutely drenched, and I mean totally soaked through. Please, not another 2019! But no need to panic because we all knew that thankfully we had some good, calm, flyable weather heading our way for Saturday and Sunday.
I briefly met up with Brad to discuss the weekend’s prospects. We had already written off him doing anything on Friday as it was too windy. It was looking like Slick both slots on Saturday and possibly a chance to fly Orange Sunday morning before the winds picked up again. We also checked in, had a chat to Teresa and the wonderful debrief team (whilst sheltering from the downpour!), receiving our pilot packs.
The recurring issue every year that we all face is the public’s understanding of how hot air balloons work and the weather conditions. If the sun is shining, there is an expectation that the balloons will be flying regardless of the wind speed or any other factors. Obviously, that is not the case. I wish it was that easy!
Check out our blog “What is the ideal weather for hot air ballooning?”
Day 1: Friday
As predicted, the conditions on Friday morning were very challenging with gusts whipping through the arena, so we didn’t do anything with the shapes. BBC Radio Bristol asked me to speak live alongside Astro the Alien owner Lee Hooper, where we tried to reassure the public that the balloonists have very high hopes for plenty of flying over the weekend, even if Friday would be a bit of a washout.
The main thing I needed to sort on Friday was completion of the orange certificate of airworthiness (C of A) as we hadn’t had time to complete it beforehand and it was looking increasingly likely we would fly it on Sunday. Last minute, I know! Big thanks to Lee for sorting it all for us. He just needed to inspect the bottom end (basket, burner, cylinders etc), as the envelope had already passed at an earlier meeting at the Snake Meadows field in late July.
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I, Brad, and team also met with Alex and his crew, got Maxwell House into his trailer, and completed the relevant paperwork to add his kit into the logbook as per instructions by the BBAC. I then handed Alex the folder and basically said, she’s all yours! Well, for a few days at least.
On Friday evening the wind had calmed a little and although the mass ascent was cancelled, we were hoping to tether and glow our jointly owned MJ Ballooning and Bristol Balloon Collectors Rozière special shape, revealing the new artwork to everyone and welcoming our new character into the world! It was pretty exciting as nobody knew about it apart from our close friends.
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The cheer as Ralph stood up for the first time, with his cheeky smile facing perfectly towards the crowd with Liam on the burners, was an incredible moment. The night glow also went well despite a brief burner issue at the start for us.
I got a lift back to Ashton after we packed the balloon away, posted the tether and glow pictures, then got to sleep as quick as possible ahead of a 4:30am alarm.
Day 2: Saturday
Probably one of the best and busiest days I’ve ever had at the fiesta, and there’s been a lot to choose from over the years.
It began with the pilot briefing delivered by the flying committee, and it was looking good for a flight, quite fast up top but calm enough on the surface. Brad was on Slick and Alex on coffee jar. I stayed on the ground this morning with Chris, Hattie and Bryce all enjoying a flight in the mighty dragon! As the first few balloons took off, including Slick, we could see it was quite fast, with the balloons not hanging around before they were completely out of sight. I spoke to Alex quickly who by this point had Maxwell House stood up and almost ready, saying that there’s no pressure to go and it may be best to stay on the ground, to which he was already thinking the same thing. A tall, thin cylinder in brisk winds probably wouldn’t have been too enjoyable over a big city.
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So, he stayed tethered, and we got on our way to retrieve team Slick. And when I said it was quite fast, I wasn’t wrong. They flew an impressive 30+ miles to a field between Tetbury and Malmesbury. Access to the field was an absolute nightmare but, in the end, we found the very welcoming landowner and were able to retrieve the kit. After all that we got back to site at around 11am, by which point it was too breezy to tether Action Man, so we decided to do this on Sunday morning. J&B was tethered by Craig and his crew, but I sadly wasn’t there to see it.
Saturday evening was looking perfect for a classic flight over the centre of town. Both balloon teams joined the queue into the launch field, and we frantically tried to find a space next to each other, and ideally alongside Liam’s Iris balloon so we could all fly together. We did set up beside each other, but the timings just didn’t work out. And someone had decided to park their trailer right in front of where Alex was positioning his basket for, guess what, the tallest balloon at the event!
Earlier on during the morning static display, a tiny bit of brown coffee bean fabric just underneath the blue must have got caught on a trailer and there was a small hole. I asked the Cameron Balloons team when we got back if they had any brown repair tape and amazingly, they stopped by the factory to get some for us, big thanks!
As Slick was inflating, we managed to pull half the coffee jar out the bag, find the hole and successfully apply the repair tape inside and out. Then I noticed a Velcro open on one of the bottom corners of the dragon box, so quickly jumped up to try and seal this, which I managed. As you can imagine, I was getting pretty hot and stressed by this point. This was the moment we’d all been hoping for for months, it was the first flyable Saturday night from the fiesta since 2016, perfect weather, Ashton Court was absolutely rammed, and people wanted to see the shapes in the air. 30 minutes seemed to turn into 30 seconds.
After that, the dragon was ready to fly, and I wished Alex all the best with the flight. Flying in Slick tonight was me, Dan, and James. I hopped in the basket, made sure I had a bottle of water, camera, phone, yes, had everything. We were the second balloon airborne and as we slowly climbed above the other balloons the view of the city appeared and the thousands of visitors there watching. It was absolutely staggering and by far the best thing I’ve ever experienced from a balloon. And it was in one my favourite special shapes as a kid, the old Palletways dragon. I honestly don’t think I will ever beat it for the rest of my life. We heard the announcers say, “Look everybody, there’s a dragon in the sky!” and as we flew directly over the crowd I waved and there was the loudest cheer I’ve ever heard at a balloon festival. That’s why I have these shapes, for moments like these.
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Half an hour into a stunning flight we saw the recognisable silhouette of the coffee jar appear against the sun. We’d done it, two shapes in the air at the same time! We landed in Warmley and made it back just in time for the night glow, which I was too tired to properly film, then I walked back knowing that we had yet another busy day ahead tomorrow.
Day 3: Sunday
The final day had arrived, and we were saying goodbye to Slick and hello to the Orange, which we hadn’t flown since Longleat 2023. I arrived very early to make sure we bagged our spot on the field, and it was raining. Not just spitting, properly raining. And upon checking the radar things didn’t look too great and I thought maybe that’s the fiesta over. But oh no, it wasn’t. Our plan to fly the Orange did happen and we had a lovely flight to North Somerset Showground, of course alongside the trusty coffee jar, which had become a bit of a people’s favourite by this point.
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One balloon that hadn’t been inflated yet was Action Man, so after we all had breakfast, at around 10am we got set up and did a brief static display of this much loved fiesta character. Securing the head and back rip panels takes some time but we got there. Lloyds TSB, Rupert Bear, and the Piper shared the field with us - a real retro display of shapes. Winds were really challenging, and old Action Man didn’t look the best from some angles, but from the front just as handsome and bright as 1997!
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As we went into the afternoon, we still had the issue of the orange and coffee jar being a little damp from the morning’s landings, so we led them out one at a time running some cold air through the envelopes until they were bone dry. The underside is always the most difficult part to get dry.
Job done!
And that was pretty much it. I say “it”, we did so, so much. Sunday evening was much too fast, so my balloons stayed safely locked up in the van. But it wasn’t over for us yet, we still had to put all the balloons back on Monday.
The reaction from all my followers thanking us for keeping the special shapes flying was great to hear and it really does make me think it’s all worth it. I and we all love doing it. Times have changed and there aren’t many airworthy shapes left anymore, but we aren’t going anywhere! I will try to keep this going for as long as I can, with next year hopefully bigger and better than before.
Thanks for reading. I hope this article has given you a glimpse into what life is like for me and the team behind the scenes.
Until next time!
Watch the 2024 Bristol International Balloon Fiesta on Youtube - click here!
