Rain dampens but can't drown out balloon festival

PLAINVILLE — If hometown pride could hold back the rain, the Plainville Fire Company’s presentation of the 25th annual Hot Air Balloon Festival would have lifted off as scheduled.

Joanne Edman, walking her small dog, Rascal, through Norton Park Saturday shook her head sadly.

“I’ve done a lot of traveling in my lifetime,” she said. “But, after all the bright lights and big city glamour it’s always nice to get back to Plainville. And now this.”

Edman made an arc with her left arm, the one not restraining Rascal. Before her scattered knots of festivalgoers wandered in the soft rain from craft booth to craft booth while a rock band entertained a small crowd of listeners stationed in front of the bandstand.

“Every year the firefighters knock themselves out to make the festival a success,” said Kirby Deegan. “To have many of the activities limited by the weather is a real shame.”

Standing under a tent, shielded by the rain, Peter Crowe, chairman of the festival, said in 25 years this weekend was the first time the festival has been fully rained out. The hot air balloon launches, fireworks and other shows had been canceled. Nothing was scheduled for Sunday.

“We still have a couple of live bands and vendors,” Crowe said, who chairs the festival committee made up of eight department heads. Members of the nonprofit, all-volunteer fire company work the festival — the largest community event of the year.

“Understandably the crowds have been slight this year,” he said.

Crowe and his committee have been working since January to ready the festival for this weekend. He said he was thankful to the people of Plainville and for their never-ending support. He estimated the cost of getting the annual festival up and running at around $40,000. Profits help operate the Plainville Fire Company; 10 percent of the revenue goes to a high school scholarship fund. In previous years annual scholarship funds have totaled as much as $6,500.

One vendor attracting customers despite the rain was Pat’s Fudge. Pat, who declined to give her last name, sold a visitor a quarter-pound piece of rum raisin fudge for $4. She said sales this year have been slower than in previous, sunnier years.

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