Review of the Gaslight Festival Balloon Glow
When the third weekend of September comes around, my family gears up for the week long festivities in Jeffersontown. Otherwise known as The Gaslight Festival, I always get that “fall is in the air feeling” about this time of year. The weather can be turning crisper or it can feel like summer is holding on for dear life, but either way Gaslight is a week of family fun with two events that my family especially enjoys. Read this so you can see what to plan for next year, you won’t want to miss it!
The Gaslight Balloon Glow is preceded by the Gaslight Festival Parade, which has already been reviewed here. I mention it briefly because it certainly is a Gaslight family event you might like to attend in the future. It’s free, easy to access, and what kid doesn’t like munching on some snacks while watching some motorcycles or drummers march by? The parade always occurs on the Thursday of Gaslight week and begins around 6pm.
The Gaslight Balloon Glow is our family’s favorite Gaslight event and has become a standing tradition! It is held at Skyview Park off of Watterson Trail in the Bluegrass Commerce Park. The event starts around 6pm with many children’s activities. The baseball park where it is held has ample free parking. We park on the curb that runs along the park on Watterson Trail and it’s never a problem.
There are free balloons, candy, and other doodads from area businesses. We visited the face painting station, bounce houses, and bookmark-making booth from the Jeffersontown Library. There were also a couple of clowns performing some fun antics and food vendors selling all those yummy festival bites. Many vendors were selling those glow in the dark toys and accessories that you just can’t resist buying for your kiddos.
But the main event is the balloons! It’s so fun walking around and seeing the balloon teams setting up their individual balloons. It’s really entertaining watching them get the balloons inflated and watching the hot air fueled by fire burst into each balloon. Our favorite part is all the preparation that goes into it.
Weather always plays a role in balloon festivals. This year’s was a difficult one for the ballooners to get some going. It was very windy and only a couple of balloons made it 100%. They lit up in the night at dusk and it was beautiful. Even if it was a short glow, my kids really had a blast. My daughter is older, but she still loves these types of things. My little boy was mesmerized. One of his favorite things is balloons, to which he exuberantly yelled “boons” all night long!
We enjoy the smaller venue of the Gaslight Balloon Glow. It starts off the fun of Gaslight weekend, and is within walking distance over to the arts and crafts booths if you want to venture that way when the glow ends. It is definitely family friendly and free, a great combination for Louisville families!
By guest contributor: Erin
