Heat and unfavorable weather conditions spoil 50th running of the Great Pershing Balloon Derby

One of Brookfield, Missouri's most defining events has been going on for the past couple of days, but the heat and changing weather conditions took a toll on the festivities. The excessive heat and unfavorable winds caused many balloons to not take flight for a majority of Labor Day weekend. However, the scheduled Nite Light went on as planned. (KTVO File) Activities started Friday evening with a Firefighter Splashdown and then a night flame, all along South Main Street. Saturday started with the John Petrean Memorial Cup Flight in the morning. Around the middle of the day, The Balloon Derby Parade went through Main Street, and the day finished at the Mayron Peacher Memorial Launch Site with various vendors, balloon tether rides, and several balloons launching. The new thing being offered for this running of the Great Pershing Balloon Derby was the tether rides. Spectators were allowed into the basket and rose to a predetermined height governed by ropes attached to several tractors. (KTVO File) Sunday saw a similar schedule to Saturday, minus the midday parade. One last balloon flight was scheduled for Labor Day morning with various awards being passed around after that. Despite plenty of sunshine throughout most of Labor Day weekend, the excessive heat played a significant factor in the ballooning experience and the amount of spectators to see the events. On top of the excessive heat, the winds ended up being unfavorable for most of the flights over the weekend, and Labor Day, causing many to not take flight. "So, the hotter it is, the less weight you can take. If you have a small balloon, it kind of limits you on being able to fly whether you are by yourself or with some passengers. With the heat, you get the thermal activity off of it, so it makes the winds a little bit squirrely," said Kenny Jay, a local balloon pilot. "With the high heat, its making everything a little bit harder to work with. Specifically, we get some gusts here because the sun is shining on the ground, but more so because the air for quite a ways up is very slow tonight. There is very little we can do with that, and with it being this hot, it is getting hard on crews to spend a long time in the air," said Anthony McCollum, a local balloon pilot. Saturday morning saw the best conditions for flying and the prize money for this event was given out for that particular flight.