This years festival saw thousands of locals descend upon Ashton court estate to witness many balloon ascents and two evening nightglows. This year marked the 41st anniversary of the largest ballooning festival in Europe. The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta was founded on the weekend of the 7th-9th September 1979. A small gathering of like-minded balloonists came together to celebrate the first ever Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, at the popular ballooning location, Ashton Court.
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00:00 I just love balloons really. Obviously now I get to fly my own balloon and everything.
00:03 It's just the freedom it gives you. And I mean just by watching, they're just stunning
00:07 views to watch over Bristol and stuff like that really.
00:10 So we're here today as aliens, obviously with our leader, that one blowing up behind us.
00:15 So yeah, we're just gonna run around to everyone basically.
00:19 The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta was founded on the weekend of the 7th to the 9th
00:25 of September 1979. A small gathering of like-minded balloonists came together to celebrate the
00:31 first ever Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. And almost 50 years later, the fiesta has
00:38 become as iconic to Bristol as Wallace and Gromit, Concord and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
00:45 Let's chat to some of the fiesta's visitors to find out more.
00:50 So the balloon fiesta is obviously a large gathering of balloons, high-air balloons,
00:57 to essentially do as many mass ascents as we can over the weekend.
01:01 So I've been working in ballooning my entire life, but I sort of stopped flying commercially
01:06 in '35. When I was 35 I decided to just have a bit of fun in the final years.
01:11 Ballooning started as an interest as a young child, so I've been flying balloons for 26
01:17 years. It's, well, I make a career out of it, it's a fantastic thing to do. I get paid
01:23 to have fun, what more can I say?
01:26 The cost of living crisis has been a very real worry for Bristolians, but in line with
01:31 the fiesta's original ethos, it remains entirely free.
01:37 It's very expensive, running these things is not cheap, so you know, the pressure's
01:41 on for everyone. But having an event where everyone can come together and just enjoy
01:44 it, it's unique.
01:45 Oh, it's great that people travel to the fiesta, like, it's just mental that some people
01:50 travel so far and everything, really. It's just amazing.
01:53 One for us to have the Bristol Balloon Festival here, it's our chance to shine, all our customers
01:58 bring their balloons here, it's a great chance to catch up with our customers. People come
02:02 from around the world, we've got teams from Belgium here, a lot of teams from across the
02:07 country, so it's fantastic to see everyone, certainly here in Bristol.
02:10 It means a lot. So this is my 10th or 11th fiesta, it's actually a critical reason I
02:16 came to the university in the first place. There's no place in England like Bristol.
02:21 It's the reason I get out of bed in the morning. I mean, ballooning's really special. So ballooning's
02:26 quite rare, the great British weather makes it hard to go ballooning. When you get out,
02:33 I tell you now, when you get out you feel like you've won something, you really feel
02:36 like you've won the lottery in the morning when you get out in a balloon.
02:38 So I think it's an iconic Bristol attraction, with Cameron Balloons obviously in Bristol,
02:45 so it's a historical event.
02:48 Today the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta attracts over 500,000 spectators. Only time
02:56 will tell if the increasing cost in balloon prices allows the fiesta to stand the test
03:02 of time.