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August 10, 2009

Bristol Balloon Fiesta 4 Day Event

I’ve just got back from the International Balloon Fiesta in Bristol after a 4 day event at the Ashton Court Estate (6th – 9th August). I think it was the best event I’ve ever been to, I enjoyed every minute of it, met loads of lovely people, saw some amazing things and sold lots of ceramics! The weather was absolutely goegeous which was an added bonus.

I couldn’t choose a favourite photo out of the hundreds I took of the balloons, but here are a few. My favourite balloon was the Churchill Dog, he was always one of the first to be blown up and seemed to be watching all the others with his cheeky grin.

I had been to my local balloon festival in Northampton a couple of years ago, but with the Bristol Fiesta being an international event, I really can’t describe how so much more amazing it was. There were hundreds of balloons taking off during the mass balloon launches and I got this strange happy feeling when they all took off together! It was a beautiful sight seeing them all up in the air over the city in different shapes, sizes and colours.

I couldn’t believe how many people were there on the Saturday. During the afternoon the marquee where I had my stall was literally packed, people could hardly move! A lot of stall holders usually complain about the lack of people at some fairs and events, but I bet they would have also complained about there being too many last weekend, it was that packed!

I was pleased with my stall layout, I had 3 tables displayed in a zig zag which I had never done before. It was nice to have a little cubby hole space for people to walk into, with my board of plaques on the corner. I found that my sets of coasters were one of my most popular items, and people were really interested in the melted glass in the bottom of my dishes. I had a couple buy a vase and then come back to buy a set of coasters and ask me to sign one of my cards because they think I will be famous soon! I also had the usual comments such as “unusual, very different, beautiful, lovely.” Oh and “cute” was a new one!


I will be showing some of the items from some of the other talented exhibitors I met at the show in my next post, so watch this space for that!


Towards the end of the first day of the show it rained a bit and the weather got a bit chilly. Just before the night glow started, there was a gorgeous pink sky, which I think means “pink sky at night, shepherds delight”. Well it sure was a delight for the next 3 days as the weather was constantly hot and sunny, with the air being still enough for the balloons to fly.
We had fun camping at the top of a hill in a quiet corner. Well it was quiet until the early hours of each morning when we were woken by the sound of the fire blowing up into the balloons flying low over the tent! I heard someone say there was a dragon in the woods! We were lucky to have a great view from the top of the hill, with lots of wild deer about.


Seeing the night glows was a such a stunning experience, I loved how each balloon lit up in time with the music being played, it was so clever.

Finally heres a photo of the Red Arrows, the world famous aerobatic team who performed loops, rolls, bends and twists in a beautiful air display of high speed stunts. Again I had difficulty choosing which photo to show, they are all fab. It was amazing how they displayed each formation perfectly, I don’t know how they do it! Sometimes the commentator would let everyone hear what the pilots were saying to each other… as well as hearing their instructions and commands, we could hear “woohooooo!!” when they came flying over the trees across the site!

This has definitely been an event with lots of great memories. I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my photos and reading my experience, as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
About Charlotte
4 Comments
  1. It sounds like it was an awesome few days. You described it very well and it was great to have such an insight. You were so lucky to get to go and to see those deers! Madness!

    Great post. Thank you.

  2. Silver Moss Jewellery August 11, 2009 at 8:05 am Reply

    Oh, it sounds wonderful, love the pics. Your new stall set-up looks great and the camping sounded fun too!

  3. Looks fantastic, especially the night time ballon photo. Your stall looks great too!

  4. Wow, what a fantastic event. Love the night time balloon shot. Your stall looked really well thought out. Excellent.

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