This year’s Canberra Balloon Spectacular will be held after Enlighten from 15 to 23 March. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The Montgolfier brothers were onto it when they first flew a hot-air balloon over Paris in 1783. This is the way to see the city – silently wafting far above it from inside a glorified picnic basket. You can even hear the birds singing.
So you can understand why every year since 1986, Canberra’s Balloon Spectacular has kept coming back.
Last year’s event, held in early March, was attended by 42,006 people and single-handedly injected $2.1 million into the ACT economy.
The ACT Government has decided that it is enough of a drawcard to warrant its own standalone event.
For 2025, the Canberra Balloon Spectacular will cut its ties with the Enlighten Festival and return to its original home at John Dunmore Lang Place, the green space between the National Portrait Gallery and Questacon.
“It’s one of Canberra’s favourite events,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr said once media disembarked the trial flight on Thursday morning (13 February).
“It’s an event that tends to see a lot of people get up very early to see balloons take off, but then also enjoy a breakfast down at John Dunmore Lang Place … It’s a much bigger launch site, so there’ll be room for more.”
The Canberra Balloon Spectacular was a thought bubble from hot air balloon company Balloon Aloft in 1986 and was part of Canberra Day festivities (the very same that birthed the Birdman Rally on Lake Burley Griffin around the same time).
But then it became wrapped up in the Multicultural Festival, and since 2011, Enlighten. But no longer.
The Canberra Balloon Spectacular will run from 15 to 23 March this year, five days after Enlighten, which runs from 28 February to 10 March.
“Certainly, we’re hoping that separating Enlighten from the Balloon Spectacular will mean there are reasons to visit over the month of March,” the Chief Minister said.
“[They] have worked well together, but it has meant that there have been some compromises around space and the number of spectators that we can accommodate, so one of the advantages of shifting the dates a little is more people can experience it.”
Balloon Aloft founder John Wallington has previously said he’s in favour of separating the two events too.
“I don’t like the word ‘clash’, but operating at the same time as it Enlighten meant we had very limited space available to take off from,” he told Region after last year’s Balloon Spectacular.
“The one field at Patrick White Lawns was a terrific launch site, but it was just too constrained, so there was a limitation on the number of balloons we could have.”
Last year’s weather was “fantastic”, and the balloons were able to fly seven out of the nine days, and late March should be even more reliable.
“It’s slightly better weather later in March, it’s slightly closer to those spectacular autumn colours, and we’re keen to keep it before the end of daylight saving so the public doesn’t have to get up even earlier in the morning to watch,” Mr Wallington said.
“This ticks all of those boxes.”
Balloon Aloft pilot Hyung Kim. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
This year’s event will feature more than 40 balloons, including two special-shaped balloons dubbed ‘Simba the Lion’ and ‘Axel the Tiger’.
Information on ticket prices will be posted to the Canberra Balloon Spectacular website closer to the event.
For those wanting to watch, daily flight announcements will also be made around 6 am on the Canberra Balloon Spectacular website and the Events ACT Facebook page to confirm if the weather conditions will allow the balloons to take off.
If balloons can’t fly, some may be inflated and tethered at John Dunmore Lang Place so visitors can walk among them, take photos and enjoy breakfast.
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