From 17th to 20th September tens of balloons will take off from Queensbury, New York, just south of Lake George and at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains. It will be the fifty-third edition of the Adirondack Balloon Festival, one of the largest and longest-standing balloon gatherings in the United States.
The dates have already been announced on the official website of the festival, while the complete program of 2026 will be published later. Not even the list of pilots, the definitive number of balloons and any special forms, which in past editions have reproduced animals, characters and large objects.
The structure of the event changes little from one year to another. The opening is usually held on Thursday afternoon in Crandall Park, Glens Falls, with music, activities for children and the take-off of a smaller group of balloons. From Friday to Sunday, activities move to the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury, a Warren County Airport located about five kilometers northeast of Glens Falls.
In the last editions the main moments were the collective ascents of the morning and late afternoon, when weather conditions tend to be more suitable for the flight. In 2025 decolli were planned with a maximum of seventy or eighty balloons, as well as the “Moonglow”: evening performances during which the balloons remain anchored to the ground and are illuminated by the burners. Sunday morning is traditionally reserved for Walt and Joan’s Mass Ascension, dedicated to Walter and Joan Grishkot, for many years among the main organizers of the festival.
The times announced must however be considered indicative. The balloons require very weak winds and can remain on the ground even when, from the viewers’ point of view, time seems good. According to the indications of the organizers, the ideal speed of the wind to the ground is between 3 and 5 hourly miles, that is between 5 and 8 km hours. At altitude, rain or temporal cells at tens of kilometers can lead to the cancellation of a take-off. The decision is taken by the pilots after the briefing preceding each session.
The festival was born in the early 1970s, when Warren County was looking for an event that brought visitors to Lake George after Labor Day, while the summer tourist season was closing. In the autumn of 1972, John Marsden organized a first demonstration at a Queensbury school. The following year, at the Adirondack Community College – today SUNY Adirondack – were eighteen balloons.
At the end of the decade the college space had already become insufficient and the main decollies were transferred to Queensbury airport. In the mid-1980s the festival was hosting up to 150 balloons; later organizers reduced the number to make management easier and less expensive. In the most frequented editions the total attendance exceeded 175 thousand people.
The Adirondack Balloon Festival retains the characteristic of volunteering for everything related to the organization: The committee consists of volunteers and expenses are covered by sponsors, merchandising sales, exhibitors’ contributions and funds from Warren County and Queensbury City’s residence taxes. Also for the 2026 entrance and general parking will be free.
Assisting decolli is free, flying is not. The festival does not directly sell trips to the balloon, but puts visitors in contact with some pilots, who establish prices and availability. The booking page of 2026 must still be updated.
From New York, Queensbury can be reached by car along Interstate 87 to the north, with a journey of about three and a half hours. The organizers warn however that long queues are formed around the airport between 5 and 9 am and between 3 and 8 pm. Reserved parking passes are sold towards the end of the summer and serve above all to use a separate entrance.
Alternatively, Adirondack Trailways connects the Port Authority Bus Terminal with Glens Falls. The Ethan Allen Express from Amtrak departs from the Moynihan Train Hall and stops at Fort Edward–Glens Falls station, from which you need to continue by taxi or with a ride-sharing service.
In the areas of the festival pets, drones, aeromodels and smoke are prohibited, due to the presence of propane cylinders used by burners. Service dogs are allowed, accompanied by the required documentation. It is no longer allowed to camp in the airport grounds.
For those arriving from New York, the most prudent solution is to stay in Glens Falls or Lake George and reach the airport before sunrise. Also in that case, seeing the balloons in flight is not guaranteed: the confirmation arrives only after the briefing of the pilots and is published on the channels of the festival just before the take-off.
L’articolo In September the sky above Lake George will fill with balloons proviene da IlNewyorkese.