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Balloons Over 66 media night a
perfect start to the weekend events
[August 28, 2026]
Thursday evening five
balloonists gathered in the parking lot of the old Kroger store that
is adjacent to Farm & Home Supply. The special meeting was set up to
provide media with a special Balloons Over 66 pre-view flight in a
hot air balloon.
This year, LDN’s Joli Boerma Crane
and her husband Brandon had that honor. For Joli, the time leading
up to the flight was one of mixed emotions. She was excited to go,
but she was anxious, as she had never flown in a balloon.
However, like the other first time flyers LDN has helped take
flight, by the time she landed she was hooked. Getting in the car
for the ride back to Kroger, she said that she could absolutely do
that every day for the rest of her life. We think she liked it.
The pilots on hand for the event included Austin Hopp with “Hoppin’
Around,” Dave Boesdorfer with “Memories in Flight,” Reid Conklin
with “Sunkissed,” Jim Phelan in “Blu E’ Nuff,” and Tracy Welch with
“A little Nonsense.”
The group met in the parking lot at 5 p.m. and when all those who
were going to be helping crew each balloon arrived, there was
discussion about wind speeds and direction. The group plotted out
where they would go to start with the intent of bringing the
balloons into the downtown Lincoln area. They reached out and
received permission from Karen Klockenga who has a lovely rural home
north of Lincoln just off Nicholson Road.
Klockenga was delighted to have the pilots come, and a very generous
and gracious host. LDN’s Nila Smith was in a chase vehicle planning
to be on hand when the balloon Crane was riding in came back down to
earth.
Klockenga’s property has a luscious green space behind the house
that drops down several yards to what some commonly call a “bottom.”
As vehicles arrived, the balloon haulers were directed to the bottom
while those who were in separate vehicles were directed to park in
the barn lot area at the house.
When Smith got out of the car, she
saw that looking down on the small valley would offer a view of the
balloon inflation that she had never gotten before, looking from
above. Smith was preparing to take a few feet down the hill then
settle in and watch the show from a loftier height. Klockenga
invited Smith and her husband to join her on the patio by the pool,
which offered the perfect view of the action in the bottom land.
Klockenga said she was happy that the balloons had come to her. She
said for several years she has laid out her big white sheet, which
is an open invitation to the pilots to land if they choose, but alas
it never happened. This was even better perhaps as she had the
pleasure of watching the balloons inflate and launch from her own
backyard.
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The evening was ideal for flying
from a layman perspective. The balloons lifted gently off the earth,
though rather quickly. Then, once in flight they seemed to float
lazily before traveling on toward town.
Getting to be part of the chase can be a lot of fun. The group took
off back down Nicholson Road, but right before the curve, the
caravan turned west, coming out at Illinois Rt. 10 where it headed
back south toward town. Then it was the 55 loop over toward Eaton.
Joli was riding with Hopp and at Eaton it looked like the basket of
the balloons was flirting mightily with the trees. She said later
that Hopp had said they might try to land in the green area behind
the employee parking lot. She told him that she wouldn’t be sad if
they couldn’t make it down there, so Hopp treated her to a slightly
longer flight. Hoppin’ Around finally landed just a couple of blocks
from the downtown area, in the green area adjacent to the Catholic
Church Food Pantry, right on the Fifth & Logan Streets curve.
The other balloons landed in widely varied locations. Phelan brought
Blu E’ Nuff down at the Lincoln College baseball fields behind the
museum. Memories in Flight landed in the playground area at the YMCA
building on Wyatt Avenue, and Brandon Crane was in Sunkissed with
Reid Conklin and he said he knows they were just off of Primm Road.
He had noted Friendship Manor and perhaps the YMCA. Tracy Welch did
not fly as there was a need for crew on some of the balloons and he
and his group opted to help the others.
All in all, it was a fun and
memorable evening that will stay close in the Crane’s minds for a
good while to come.
Lincoln Daily News would like to thank Austin Hopp and all the
pilots who participated in the Thursday evening event for providing
one of its reporters with another very pleasant experience.
Look for more from Joli in a future edition.
Balloons Over 66 media night photo slideshow
Balloons Over 66 media night video playlist
[Nila Smith]
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