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Huff ‘n Puff Hot Air Balloon Rally – 35 Years and Still Soaring…

Expect to see 35 hot air balloons take to the skies to celebrate the 35th Huff ‘n Puff Balloon Rally presented by the Great Plains Balloon Club. Nearly 10,000 people are expected to come watch the colorful hot air balloons launch, glow and experience the exciting sport of hot air ballooning. The pilots are from across Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Iowa.

“Huff ‘n Puff gives the public a great opportunity to get up-close and personal to these majestic airships and see first-hand just how much fun this sport can be,” said Karl H. Fruendt, Rally coordinator. “It’s a good idea to come early for each event… and bring your lawn chairs or blankets, plus insect repellent.” He says participants may be asked to participate by assisting with a balloon. < /p>

“Those coming to celebrate the Great Plains Balloon Club’s 35th Huff ‘n Puff have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet a living legend in ballooning,” Fruendt added. Don Piccard, the “father of modern hot air ballooning” will speak during a Propane Safety Seminar Saturday afternoon. Both events are free and open to the public. Guests asked to bring a lawn chair.

Don Piccard

During the propane safety seminar, the “father of the sport of modern hot air ballooning,” Don Piccard, will discuss the last half century of the sport. “Google” Don Piccard and you’ll find a family tradition in flight, adventure and history making. He has had many ballooning patents, set world records and is one of the founders of the Balloon Federation of America.

As a child, Piccard also met Orville Wright; a moment he says was “one of the great experiences of his life.” Piccard began his own aeronautic career in the U.S. Navy during World War II when he served as a balloon and air­ship rigger (1944 to 1946). After the war, his practical experience allowed him to be one of the driving forces behind hot-air ballooning while a student at the University of Minnesota. He made the first free flight in 1947 with a cap­tured Japanese Fu-Gos; a small, hydrogen-filled paper balloon. In 1948, he helped organize the first balloon club in the United States, the Balloon Club of America. This club, along with the Balloon Flyers of Akron, formed the Balloon Federation of America, today the national organization for ballooning. The BFA sets safety standards for hot air bal­looning. In 1963, Piccard and Ed Yost were the first to cross the English Channel in a hot air balloon.

Piccard was the first person to be issued a balloon pilot’s license by the FAA. His career and research covers hot air balloons plus hydrogen, helium and gas ballooning. He designed and pioneered plastic and Mylar balloons. He con­tinues to instruct, promote and write about one of the oldest forms of air transportation.

Discovery Workshop

The GPBC promotes the sport of hot air ballooning through the Discovery Workshop. Besides learning how hot air balloons float (what happens when cold molecules get hot), the 4th – 6th graders learn about teamwork and construct their own tissue balloons that float.

With the help of crew chiefs, the students build a four-foot balloon from tissue paper, glue and wire. Each person has a job, just like on a real chase crew. The afternoon ends with a hands-on experience with a real hot air balloon. Students can be assigned to Huff ‘n Puff pilots for the rest of weekend. Registration for the Discovery Workshop can be made through Shawnee County Parks & Recreation.

About the Great Plains Balloon Club

On Father’s Day of 1976, Topekans had the thrill of seeing 12 colorful hot air balloons launch from the State Capitol grounds as part of the first Great Plains Huff ‘n Puff Balloon Rally. The event was organized by the two Chucks (pilots C.R. “Chuck” Tantillo and Chuck Klein) along with Gene Brown and Cindy Tantillo Schendel. The pilots were from Kansas and Missouri and the balloons that first year had names like Candy Cane, Windbag and Fire Hawk.

That first rally gave birth to a new sport in Topeka – hot air ballooning. There was so much interest in ballooning in those early years that a night class on ballooning was offered at Topeka High and a Topeka balloon club, “The International Association for the Advancement of Hot Air Ballooning in Kansas”, was formed. The name was changed to the Great Plains Balloon Cub in 1978.

Since then, the GPBC has been promoting ballooning in Northeast Kansas by presenting the Huff ‘n Puff balloon rally, donating balloon rides to charitable organizations, participating in area parades and offering trainings on all things involving ballooning (weather, propane, setup, launch, etc).