The idea took flight when Kathy White, who is the Board Chair for the Murray Chamber of Commerce, heard that the Park City balloon festival, Autumn Aloft, had been canceled. 

“The first time I saw a hot air balloon rise it was absolutely magical,” White said. “I would go to the Park City festival every year, and when I heard it had been canceled, I approached Matt Gibbons [Murray Chamber President] about bringing a balloon festival to Murray the same weekend it would have been held in Park City and he, because he also loves hot air balloons, said, ‘Let’s do it.’” 

That’s when they approached Tim Taylor. Taylor’s official title for this event (in all seriousness) the Balloon Meister. What this means is he’s in charge of coordinating air and ground crews at the event. He keeps the balloonists, audience and field safe. He’s also a balloon pilot. 

Taylor began his love of flight at the Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs. As a junior cadet he could take flying lessons and he became a plane pilot at age 16. Fast forward: his bride-to-be was from Albuquerque, New Mexico (home of the international Balloon Fiesta, the largest hot air balloon festival in the world) and said she wanted to be married in a hot air balloon, so they did, and Taylor bought the balloon they got married in.

Fast forward: he and his wife have enjoyed 37 years of marriage and ballooning. Now he travels to balloon festivals across the desert southwest with his own star-spangled balloon and is also the corporate pilot for the infamous red Chick-fila-A balloon.

Taylor has been instrumental in getting the Palooza in Murray off the ground. The Salt Lake Valley is somewhat congested, in that it’s hard to find space to launch a huge number of balloons, but in this inaugural year the Balloon Palooza intends to send up 10 to 15 balloons from the field at Cottonwood High. 

This year the event is entirely sponsor driven (and they are currently looking for additional sponsors), but Taylor, White and the Murray Chamber would like to make the Balloon Palooza an annual event and would welcome sponsorship, city funding and grant assistance in future years.

The weekend-long festival will be held Sept. 20-22 at the Cottonwood High School soccer field, 5715 S. 1300 East. 

Admission is free. There will be interactive activities for the whole family like face painting and balloon art. Attendees will have a chance to interact with the balloon pilots and crew.

Each morning of the festival (20, 21 and 22) at 7 a.m. the balloons will launch. There will be food trucks and tethered rides. The palooza is not an “all day” event. The balloons can only stay aloft until the ground heats up and the wind currents shift.

One evening event, the Glow Palooza, will be held Sept. 21 (Saturday) at 5 p.m. with entertainment, vendors, food and rides, plus glowing balloons filling the night sky. 

For the latest details visit: www.hotairbaloonpalooza.com and to sponsor the event contact Kathy White at: [email protected]. λ