SAFFORD — Ring in the New Year with a hot air balloon. More accurately, 20 hot air balloons.
Graham County Chamber of Commerce announced via social media the dates for the inaugural Gila Valley New Year’s Balloon Extravaganza.
“Susan Lindsey said she could get 20 balloons here, so we said, ‘Let’s do it!’ ” Vance Bryce, executive director of the chamber said in a text to Gila Valley Central.
Lindsey owns the local hot air balloon tour agency, AZ Air Ventures.
The event begins Thursday, Dec. 30, and runs through Sunday, Jan. 2, with balloons lifting off from Ruth Powell Elementary School starting at 6 a.m. each day.
Balloonists will be traveling in from the Red Rock Balloon Rally in Gallup, N.M., Dec. 3-5, and the Gila Valley event leads into other balloon festivals in Arizona, with the Havasu Balloon Festival and Fair on Jan. 20-23, and the 11th annual Arizona Balloon Classic in Goodyear on Jan. 28-30.
