The Great Reno Balloon Race
written by Bill Kopp
Launched in 1982, the Great Reno Balloon Race is a free, annual event that brings together some of the nation's best balloon pilots, nearly 100 dazzlingly-colored balloons and tens of thousands of spectators for a three fun-filled days at Reno's Rancho San Rafael Park. Billed as the world's largest free hot-air ballooning event, this year's race happened September 5-7. I spoke with the organizing team's Pete Copeland about the event's history, and gave a preview of what attendees could expect this year.
Bill Kopp: How did the Great Reno Balloon Race get started?
Pete Copeland: In the late 1970s and early '80s, the National Championship Air Races were held here in northern Nevada; September is quite beautiful here. [The organizers] wanted to have more entertainment for the fans while they were getting aircraft ready. So they would set up balloons up before the air race started; they'd put 15, 20 balloons up. And they found that it was really popular; they had these big crowds out there in the early morning. It was wonderful! So they thought, "Hey, what if we took that part of the show and did it the weekend before the air races? Maybe we could help drive tourism and have it in this really cool park we have in downtown Reno. Let's see what happens."
They did it one year, and it became incredibly popular. They did it for free, which was smart. And it's still free to attend; our whole mandate is to keep it free for the community, for everybody. And we're a nonprofit organization.
After that start, the race just took on a life of its own.
What logistics are involved in organizing and executing an event like this?
We are in a massive, beautiful 200-plus acre park that's right downtown. To get ready for this event, it requires a lot. You've got to have electrical, medical, infrastructures for sewage and more. You've got to basically build out a "city" that can accommodate 50,000 fans a day for three days.
How far in advance do you start planning for each year's event?
Well, I always use an analogy out of the movie Elf. They are celebrating that they had a successful Christmas that night, and then they get started the next day. We get started the next day. Actually, we're already talking now about our 45th anniversary, which is next year.
What makes Rancho San Rafael Park an ideal place to stage the race?
The geography of the park has a natural bowl setting. The location is physically right next to our wonderful 150-year old University of Nevada, Reno and downtown. The park is really well suited to accommodate the 50,000 fans and 90 to 100 aircraft... not to mention a thousand to 2,000 volunteers. It's a perfect setting for what we do.
There are several events on the program. What's the Super Glow Show?
By 4:30 in the morning, there's going to be about 40,000 people out there. The Super Glow show is the first program of the morning. This is at about 5 a.m.; it kind of warms up the crowd. We'll have about 40 balloons on the ground, on a field of about 75 acres. And they're choreographed to music. Each aircraft will light up to music. And it ends with "Dueling Banjos," with the east side versus the west side. One's the guitar, and one's the banjo. It's really epic; it's a spectacular show.
We started the Super Glow Show in its current form about 10 to 12 years ago, and it's super popular.
What is the Dawn Patrol?
Dawn Patrol is the most popular feature of our entire event. Right after Super Glow, at 5:30 or 5:40 our eight Dawn Patrol pilots go up. They actually fly in the dark! One pilot's going to be in the middle, and the rest of the balloons will surround them. And then they'll spin. It's just amazing what they can do with these rudderless aircraft. Those eight pilots are the elite of the elite; there are probably only 50 pilots in the world who have the accreditation to fly at night. Our Dawn Patrol show goes on for about 45 minutes.
What's Mass Ascension?
Well, Dawn Patrol starts in the dark and ends in the light; it's really extraordinary. Mass Ascension happens next. Upwards of 100 balloons -- the rest of the balloons that are not flying in Dawn Patrol -- all inflate. It's really impressive to see 100 balloons in this intimate setting with 50,000 of your friends there. The morning's breaking, the light is up; in the morning sun it's truly spectacular.
We're talking about aircraft that are -- to some extent -- at the mercy of wind. Does everything always go as planned?
It just seems to, every single year. The race is an invitation-only event. So we have the best pilots, people who have been doing this for some time. We have a good mixture of veteran pilots and new balloons; that keeps it fresh.
How does the race work?
The competition is twofold; it's kind of old-school meets new-school. The pilots are given beanbags. There's a target on the other side of the park; they fly their aircraft over that target, drop their bean bags and get points.
And on the other days, they [locate] a virtual target, an avatar. They get a proximity on an app that indicates, say, a thousand feet at that spot. And when they go through the precise area, that scores points for them. We add all those points together, and the winner will get upwards of $2,500. It's really a great competition; it challenges the skill sets of the pilots, and it's a lot of fun for the sponsors and the fans.
People come from far and wide to the race each year, don't they?
Oh, yeah! We'll see about 50,000 each day, for a total of about 135,000 to 150,000 over the three days. This is a locally-born event, but tourism is a big part of what we do. 40% of everything that we do will be tourism related.
We get accolades from all over the world. The fact that we're as big as we are and still free, that's unheard of. And the flying conditions can be amazing here. It's considered one of the top venues for pilots; we have a waiting list every year, and we bring the best and safest pilots. We have a lot of good things at that are in our favor.