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31st Annual Alabama Jubilee
Hot-Air Balloon Classic
For reservations call: Toll-Free (800) 553-3150
Decatur - Dozens of colorful balloons will take to the skies this year in honor of the 31st annual Alabama Jubilee Hot-Air Balloon Classic here this Memorial Day holiday weekend.
As always, public admission is free, organizers said.
Event Schedule |
Saturday 5/24/08 |
6:00 am |
Pilot's Briefing |
6:30 am |
Hare & Hounds Race |
5:00 pm |
Pilot's Briefing |
5:30 pm |
Fun Flight |
6:30 pm |
Tethers |
8:15 pm |
Balloon Glow |
Sunday 5/25/08 |
6:00 am |
Pilot's Briefing |
6:30 am |
Lynn Layton Key Grab |
5:00 pm |
Pilot's Briefing |
5:30 pm |
Fun Flight |
6:30 pm |
Tethers |
Scheduled featured activities include a fireworks extravaganzsa, an antique tractor show,
classic car show, arts & crafts, stage entertainment, and children's sports area.
Expanded hot-air balloon flights are also on tap and will include a Hare & Hound race, Tetherred Fun Flight and Balloon Glow, Key Grab, Fun Flight and Pilots Fun Flight.
More sites at the Alabama Jubilee will include an International Food Court. Shoppers Marketplace, and Kidstuff Children's Area .
The Alabama Jubilee Hot-Air Balloon Classic, the oldest hot-air balloon race in the mid-south, started in Decatur in 1977 with competition between 17 balloonists from Kentucky, Ohio, georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. The Classic now draws over 60 pilots from 20 states for three days of competition during the annual Memorial Day holiday weekend. The Jubilee has been named a Top 20 Event in the Southeast for May by the Atlanta-based Southeast Tourism Society.
Races are held just after sunrise and a little before sunset. The balloon glow, or "balloomination", is held on Saturday evening.
The Alabama Jubilee is unique in that it allows for the crowd of approximately 50,000 to mingle with pilots while the 7-story tall balloons are being inflated.
The continued popularity of the Alabama Jubilee led the legislature of the state to designate the City of Decatur as the "Ballooning Capital of Alabama".
The Jubilee is held on the grounds of Point Mallard Park, a municipal recreation complex that offers a 35-acre water park featuring "America's First Wave Pool", tennis courts, ball fields, hiking trails, campground, 18-hole championship golf course, indoor ice skating rink and a complete recreation center.
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