Balloon Festival enthralls viewers
Over in the Main City Park, a couple of pilots set up balloons for launch.
Mumm unrolled the balloon canopy, made of light nylon fabric. She and her crew got the basket out of the bed of her truck.
She instructed her passengers and crew members to clip on metal supports. Then came the burner and the hoses to the propane tanks, as well as radios for communication. When balloonists fly close to an airport, they must communicate with the control tower.
Mumm and her team then used a fan to inflate the balloon with air. Mumm increased the fan speed and the balloon expanded wider and taller. When the nylon fully expanded to a spherical oblong shape, they ignited the propane burner, which replaced the air with heated air, which then began to rise.
The balloons in the park gradually inflated from half-circular blobs to upwards-standing pear shapes, with pilots pushing off the baskets.
As they rose into a flock above Elko, the puff of the burners was audible from the ground.
People gathered to take photos in the Convention Center parking lot. Cars lined College Drive and crowds filled Main City Park.
The balloons traveled across the city and landed in some unexpected places.
The Blue Moon balloon touched down on Ruby Vista Drive, barely skirting a chain link fence. The crew took down and rolled up the balloon on the golf course.
The Nevada flag balloon landed next to the Pizza Hut on Idaho Street. The crew twisted and turned the basket to move the balloon to an open space free of cars in the mall parking lot.
Over the past few years, Mumm has worn a smiley face pin in memory of fellow balloonist Keith Evans, who flew the Smiley's Dream balloon and always told people, to "get your smile on." Evans was a good friend with Liz Silva, the balloon festival secretary; he died in an accident while working on his trailer.
Mumm explained how she found her passion for ballooning through High Sierra Balloon Camp in Truckee, California. She earned her student pilot certificate in 2014. After balancing family issues, she then obtained her private pilot certificate two years later and her commercial license in 2018. She is now director of the camp and has run seven of them. Her son, William Mumm, is also a pilot.
"The camp program is where my heart lies, because ballooning is an aging sport. It's a lot of older people who, because of their physicality, are retiring. So, we need to get younger people into the sport and this is the best way to do it," she said.
In its own way, the festival in Elko introduced the art of ballooning to a new audience, encouraging people to stop what they were doing, look up and smile.
It's just lots of repetition, learning how to maneuver it and how to control it, multitasking, watching where you're going and paying attention to the weather, said Wind Rider pilot Vincent Casey, a balloonist for almost 30 years. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!
