The Leflore County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to provide financial assistance to a small group of entrepreneurs working to bring a balloon festival back to Greenwood.
District 1 Supervisor Sam Abraham, District 5’s Robert Collins and District 3’s Anjuan Brown approved a $10,000 advertising sponsorship for the event. District 2’s Robert Moore and District 4’s Wayne Self were absent.
Beginning in 1990, Greenwood hosted the Mississippi International Balloon Classic. In 1998, that event moved to a different venue and was replaced in Greenwood by the volunteer-run BalloonFest, which was discontinued in 2004.
Ken Gammill billed the new event as a three-day festival with something to offer everyone. The event, which has already received the backing of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce, the Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Greenwood City Council, is scheduled to run June 16-18.
Gammill said he and David Elmore were contracting with a balloon promoter who guaranteed at least 35 balloons at the event.
Since then, he said, the visitor’s bureau had received multiple emails from independent balloonists expressing interest in participating.
In addition to balloons, the event will feature a motorcycle rally, live music, a car show, an amateur barbecue contest and a children’s area with inflatables, train rides and a petting zoo.
The event, to be held in Whittington Park, will have no cover charge for children 10 and under.
BalloonFest “would fill up all the hotels in Greenwood and a 30- or 40-mile radius around us,” said Gammill.
“I for one am glad,” said Brown, adding that he has many positive memories of the festival. “I think it’s a great thing, personally.”
“In an event like this of this magnitude, I think it’s worth giving a shot,” said Abraham.
• Contact Nick Rogers at 581-7235 or nrogers@gwcommonwealth.com.
