Rising in front of a blue horizon, multi-colored balloons launched into the sky Saturday night over Kenny Anderson Park in Sioux Falls.
Almost 40 hot air balloons graced the scene as part of the 34th annual Great Plains Balloon Race put on by the Sioux Falls Ballooning Association.
"It's so awesome to see that many up in the air at one time," spectator Pat Wages said.
This year, balloonists from across the Midwest launched twice on Saturday, once after dawn and once around sunset. Both times, balloonists tossed bean bags from their balloons at a land target during a "hare-and-hound" contest.
"For me, it did not go well," balloon pilot John Bullock said of the morning's contest. "I missed the target by a bunch, but I saw it."
Bullock, of Wisconsin, said he enjoyed flying over the city during his first flights in the race as a pilot.
"It's very calm. You're moving with the wind, just floating along," Bullock said. "It's really quiet until you hit the burner."
The race's "balloonmeister," Bill Kullander, didn't have much better luck in the morning's contest. Because of variable winds, he decided to land in the lumber yard of a Menard's store instead of trying to win the hare-and-hound contest.
Still, the winds did not ruin a beautiful morning's flight, he said.
"It's a lot like you're standing on a platform and you're watching the world move along under you," Kullander said.
When they weren't taking pictures or cheering on such crowd favorites as the Uncle Sam balloon, spectators had the opportunity to walk inside a balloon half-inflated on the ground.
"Everyone loves it, especially the kids," Kullander said.
"People wander around in it, and kids bounce off the walls."
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