The organisers of Northampton Balloon Festival have secured an agreement to keep the event at Billing Aquadrome for a further three years.
The future of the event, which once attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors to the town, had been in doubt after the council pulled the plug on funding, but a group of balloonists joined forces in 2009 to take it to Billing.
The group has now agreed a deal with Pure Leisure Ltd, the owners of Billing Aquadrome, to host the event there for the next three years.
Balloon Festival director Barry Newman said: “Billing Aquadrome provides a good location for the balloon festival and we are delighted that the event will be secure for at least another three years. It is one of the events that Northampton is known for around the world.”
The organisers are now hoping for good ballooning weather over the weekend to allow the flights and the famous Saturday night “balloon glow” to take place.
This year 35 hot air balloons are entered for the event, which will be held from August 17 to 19. It will be the 24th staging of the festival.
Among the highlights of this year’s festival will be an appearance from the popular ‘Micehlin Man’ balloon. For more details of which balloons will be taking part visit at www.thenorthamptonballoonfestival.co.uk or scan the QR code below.
Hundreds of thousands of people used to flock to The Racecourse every year for the Northampton Balloon Festival, a highlight of the town’s social calendar.
But when the credit crunch started to bite in 2009, the local authority, which had funded the event for more than 20 years, decided to pull the plug as it looked to make much-needed savings.
The previous year, as costs soared and popularity dwindled, it had made a huge loss of £177,000, a bill picked up the taxpayer.