Hot air balloon festival to get off the ground in Durham

Durham Bid has announced that its Balloons InDurham festival will take place this year from May 25-28.

Taking place during the course of the Spring Bank Holiday, the city’s second hot air balloon festival will take place at locations across Durham.

Early morning and evening launches are expected to take off from East Durham College Houghall Campus, with tethered balloons on Palace Green next to Durham Cathedral, as well as other family friendly entertainment for people to enjoy across the city.

Adam Deathe, from Durham Bid, said: “Last year Balloons InDurham was a huge success, seeing in excess of 20,000 people come into the city to watch the hot air balloons and stunning night glow. As with any firsts, it’s always a learning curve, and so we’ve taken feedback on board from visitors to the event in 2017 and are working hard to finalise plans to ensure that this year’s Balloons InDurham is even bigger and better than ever before.”

Scott Hillary, of event production company AH Events, said: “Balloons InDurham 2017 was a career highlight for me. A lot of hard work to – pardon the pun – get it off the ground, but so rewarding when you see a field full of thousands of people with smiles on their faces and looking in awe at the balloons, launching into the morning sky or illuminating in time to music at the stunning night glow.”