Memorial Day weekend brings the annual Freedom Weekend Aloft event to the Upstate of South Carolina. It brings great concerts, food, celebration, and hot air balloons. Normally, we are spoiled with great weather and plenty of opportunities to chase the balloons and meet the pilots when they land. It is fun to watch the the team members follow their balloon, almost like a storm chaser. They track everything; wind, trees, people, fields, homes, you name it. We have even been fortunate enough to get a ride in a balloon after we followed it to its landing site. 
This year though, we have been getting some much needed rain. Understandably, the balloons could not launch as often as they would have liked. Now I am no ballooning expert, but I think the pilots kind of gave up on the event too early. They even had a "failure to launch" on the last day of the event. There was a rain shower earlier in the afternoon, but no where near close to the 6:00 p.m. launch time. There were people everywhere waiting for the launch and no one communicating that the balloons were gone. It was definitely disappointing, especially since the event is built around the balloons. We are thankful Upstate South Carolina is home to then event, but would have loved for the balloonists to stick it out and make the event as special as it normally is. Thankfully, there are lots of other local activities that come around with the summer time. You can't beat Greenville during the summer, or anytime really!
These pics are some I took during last year's FWA.
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