We're glad you asked ! These are great fun and
often take place when several hot air balloons and
their crews get together, such as at hot air balloon
festivals, or other outdoor events.
The easiest way to describe a "Balloon Glow"
in words is to ask you to think of each hot air
balloon as a huge light-bulb ("light bulbs"
are more correctly called "lamps", by
the way). Now think of the envelope of each hot
air balloon (that is the thin fabric of the balloon
that holds all the air) as the glass part of the
light-bulb, and the burner inside the hot air balloon
as the filament of the light-bulb. When the filament
of a light bulb is "on"/illuminated then the whole
unit glows, the shape of the glow taking on the
overall shape of the light-bulb, as defined by the
outer glass. A similar effect can be seen with hot
air balloons.
To do this the crew start by setting-up the hot-air-balloon
in the usual way and get as far as using the burner
to heat the air inside the envelope and fully inflate
the hot air balloon in an upright position. That
much is standard.
Back to our light-bulb analogy for a moment, remember
that switching a light-bulb on in a brightly-lit
room during daylight hours has very little effect.
But switching on the same light when the area is
otherwise dark makes a great difference. (Of course
generally the idea is not to see the light-bulb
itself, but to see the room and everything in it
- so standard light-bulbs don't have colours, patterns
and logos on them !)
Getting the idea now ? Obviously "Balloon
Glows" take place in the dark or semi-dark
during early mornings or late evenings. They look
great because each balloon is being used as a HUGE
(in many cases) multi-coloured and patterned lamp,
but it gets even better ....
Because "Balloon Glows" tend to take
place when there are many Hot Air Balloons together
in one place, the effect is very often a complete
"Light and Sound" Festival. The Hot Air Balloon
operators communicate with the co-ordinators of
the event via radios and light-up their balloons
in synchronisation with each other, often also to
music.
This is just one of the reasons to go to one of
the big Hot Air Balloon Festivals if you possibly
can. They are not just about seeing lots of different
shapes and sizes of hot air balloons, but they also
make possible co-ordinated activities that require
many different hot air balloons. [See Photos
of Balloon Glows]
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