Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival — Local services in Hartford

It's their 40th Year this year?...hmm.. That means for 40 years a handful of basket owners (we'll never actually know if they have balloons) have driven into a field and stood around and looked cool for a few hours while everyone stares at them. As my wife and I left in disappointment we decided to let this one go because they did make the dumbest investment one could possible make. I mean honestly, who buys a hot air balloon? What irked me the most was that I woke up this morning and saw the wind would be no more than 11 mph and yet not one of the "owners" inflated their balloons. Then, they had only one area of portta jons that had a huge line the entire time that was equally as long as the beer line. They might as well have served the beer at the start so you could just stay in the line all night and just refill and then pee, then repeat. For some reason the town didn't even put up a sign showing where to turn off the main road to get to the parking (which btw, is at a flashing yellow light). Oh, definitely stop and check out the Gorge on the way back and get a lobster roll and/or ice cream. I gave this a two stars for a few reasons. Mostly because the town is quaint (even though that has nothing to do with the festival) and because I could see how it would be sorta fun for someone with kids but even at that the field wasn't huge and you could let your kids go run on it. There was an enormous bungee jumping thing but i bet it was costly. There was a stage and bunch of vendors but that isn't our thing. They were nice though; nothing amazing.

I won't be a hypocrite though because I will give it them that the website DID said that there are only 6am and 6pm "ascensions" so if you did a little research you would have known not to expect much unless you timed it right AND the weather was perfect. We got there at 4pm with good weather, little to no wind, and nobody even removed the basket from their truck. We left at about 7pm. NOT EVEN ONE BALLOON BLOWN UP. I thought they had some tandem balloons?? Well, at least we only had to drive up from Manchester, NH unlike some people who drove from Boston. And we had also gone to Silver Lake for a few hours to get...

I was so disappointed in this year’s festival. We parked at the top of a hill by the grammar school for a good cause (school trip) at a reasonable price of $5. All of the other parking lots were charging $20. With inflation being so out of control, I was completely disgusted with the price gauging. Once at the festival, we were charged an entry fee of $20/adult for my daughter and myself and $5 for my granddaughter which included ALL of the events inside…totaling one band! The porta-potties were mostly out of order, out of toilet paper or just dirty with empty toilet paper wrappers. They had wash stations that were out of water or completely closed down. They had nothing to offer the kids except the playground and a single woman charging $12 for face painting. I would have paid it for my granddaughter (I’d do anything for that little lady), but after the line only moving by 1 child in 20 minutes, she decided she was alright without getting one. The wind gusts were too strong for the balloons, so we didn’t even get to see them. The only positive-my granddaughter got to fly her new $16 kite with all of the other kids,...

I went to Quechee balloon festival by invitation of a friend who always goes and was absolutely wowed with the location, artisans, balloons with pilots and the staff running the show! I had hoped to ride a balloon but was to late to purchase a ticket and with the questionable weather or wind my first ride was a Rollercoaster of excitement of possibly riding as the folks kept trying to find me a spot. Come Sunday morning the weather was perfect and I was the very first stand by so after an amazing weekend of fanfair, music and food I got a ticket to ride. It was way more than I could have imagined!! Awe struck and loving every second. My pilot was incredible as she explained everything while mastering her plan for the perfect landing, which most of the locals over flew, just saying. No big deal but just added to the ride like we won! I got to help pack the balloon which even deepened the experience. I can not recommend enough to go experience the people, sights, hospitality and the balloons!! There is literally nothing like it!! Thank you to all the amazing people involved, you know...