We're glad you asked ! These are great fun and often take
place when several hot air balloons and their crews get together, such as at hot air balloon festivals,
or other outdoor events.
The easiest way to describe a "Balloon Glow" in
words is to ask you to think of each hot air balloon as
a huge light-bulb ("light bulbs" are more correctly
called "lamps", by the way). Now think of the
envelope of each hot air balloon (that is the thin fabric
of the balloon that holds all the air) as the glass part
of the light-bulb, and the burner inside the hot air balloon
as the filament of the light-bulb. When the filament of
a light bulb is "on"/illuminated then the whole unit glows,
the shape of the glow taking on the overall shape of the
light-bulb, as defined by the outer glass. A similar effect
can be seen with hot air balloons.
To do this the crew start by setting-up the hot-air-balloon
in the usual way and get as far as using the burner to
heat the air inside the envelope and fully inflate the
hot air balloon in an upright position. That much is standard.
Back to our light-bulb analogy for a moment, remember
that switching a light-bulb on in a brightly-lit room during
daylight hours has very little effect. But switching on
the same light when the area is otherwise dark makes a
great difference. (Of course generally the idea is not
to see the light-bulb itself, but to see the room and everything
in it - so standard light-bulbs don't have colours, patterns
and logos on them !)
Getting the idea now ? Obviously "Balloon Glows" take
place in the dark or semi-dark during early mornings or
late evenings. They look great because each balloon is
being used as a HUGE (in many cases) multi-coloured and
patterned lamp, but it gets even better ....
Because "Balloon Glows" tend to take place when
there are many Hot Air Balloons together in one place,
the effect is very often a complete "Light and Sound" Festival.
The Hot Air Balloon operators communicate with the co-ordinators
of the event via radios and light-up their balloons in
synchronisation with each other, often
also to music.
This is just one of the reasons to go to one of the big
Hot Air Balloon Festivals if you possibly can. They are
not just about seeing lots of different shapes and sizes
of hot air balloons, but they also make possible co-ordinated
activities that require many different hot air balloons. [See Photos
of Balloon Glows]
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