Balloon races take off in Creston

A southwest Iowa hot-air balloon event is already underway. It’s the 26th year Creston has hosted these races, and Chamber program manager Ellen Gerharz says they’re expecting more than fifty balloonists to take to the skies this (Saturday) morning, afternoon and evening and again on Sunday. There’s also a parade this morning. More than 650 band members are signed up, and she says it’s always exciting how many bands come for the parade from central and southwestern Iowa, and there’ll also be events including a display by model railroad fans and a book sale by Friends of the Library. Gerharz says the annual event is Iowa’s second-largest, right behind the yearly balloon races at Indianola. One new attraction this morning is a clogging group, the parade’s at 10:30 and there’s no form for participants, so to be in the parade all they have to do is show up. At dusk this (Saturday) evening pilots inflate their balloons while tethered on the ground for a “night glow,” one of the weekend’s most popular events.