Brookings Balloons

Fifteen hot-air balloons representing eight states will gather at Fishback Soccer Complex this weekend — July 17-19 — for the inaugural Balloons Over Brookings, the first hot-air balloon event in the community.

Scheduled activities at the free-admission event begin Friday, July 17, with a 6:30 p.m. balloon launch, tethered rides, and a “balloon glow” at dusk.

Saturday features balloon launches at 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., with tethered rides and another balloon glow at dusk. The event concludes with a 6 a.m. launch Sunday, July 19. Tethered rides are $20 per person on a first-come, first-served basis.

Event organizer Dan Strutz, hot-air balloon pilot and president of the South Dakota Balloon Network, said he loves sharing this unique experience with passengers. “I love flying, and I love introducing people to the sport,” he said. “It’s fun to see their amazement when they see the world from that angle. There’s a joy in flying, being part of the wind, and just trusting where it’s going to take us.”

Strutz, who farms full-time near Huron, got hooked on hot-air balloons when he was in high school in Wisconsin. Twenty-some years later, he decided to explore the hobby again. After completing his training, he started a business, Pheasantland Balloons. His wife, Susanna Strutz, is his partner in the business.

“We just love to see the joy that it brings people,” Susanna Strutz said. “It’s so peaceful, whether you’re in the basket or just watching a balloon fly over.”

For Dan Strutz, Balloons Over Brookings is a full-circle moment. He remembers collecting hot-air balloon trading cards at an event as a kid, and now he hands them out as a pilot.

Strutz’s hot air balloon, “Ruthie’s Delight,” which is named after his mom, is an Aerostar RX8 that holds 90,000 cubic feet of hot air and stands more than 70 feet tall. It can carry a pilot and three passengers.
Hot-air balloon rides are popular for life’s big “bucket list” moments, Strutz said. He has witnessed marriage proposals and taken passengers on rides to mark special occasions like birthdays.

When weather conditions permit, spectators at Balloons Over Brookings can experience the balloons up close as pilots and crews prepare, inflate, and launch their aircraft. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets and meet the pilots on the field.

Balloons over Brookings is organized by the South Dakota Balloon Network. For more information, go to BalloonsOverBrookings.com and the Balloons Over Brookings Facebook page. Some of the event’s pilots still need volunteers, Strutz said, to help set up and pack up the balloons. Volunteers can sign up on the group’s Facebook page.

History

More than 120 years before the Wright brothers achieved the first powered airplane flight in 1903, two men in Paris, France, lifted off in a hot air balloon.

On Nov. 21, 1783, Jean François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes traveled about 5.5 miles in 25 minutes at an altitude of at least 500 feet.

The two men weren’t the first living passengers in a hot-air balloon, however. In September 1783, builders of that Paris balloon, Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, sent up a sheep, duck and rooster to make sure living creatures could survive the flight.

Benjamin Franklin, although not a passenger, reportedly attended the November 1783 launch and was intrigued by the technology. He is credited with a famous answer when someone asked, “What is the use of it?”

Franklin, capturing the idea that a new invention’s purpose might not be immediately obvious, replied, “What is the use of a newborn baby?”

Milestones

South Dakota is the birthplace of the modern hot air balloon. It was invented in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 1960 by Raven Industries.

Key innovations included a propane burner and a reusable balloon made of ripstop nylon that could be inflated, flown, landed, and flown again—in contrast to the paper, linen, silk or cotton cloth balloons of the past.

Raven Industries’ Ed Yost made the first flight of the modern hot air balloon in October of 1960 from Bruning, Neb.

In the 1980s, Raven Industries established its specialized balloon and aerospace subsidiary, Aerostar International, to carry on the company’s balloon endeavors.