The return of Balloons Over Wairarapa favourite Sunny Boy from Ohio, US, who arrived on Tuesday with the help of Big Wednesday millionaires Phil and Siobhan Logan, is set to brighten up the sky during the weekend - despite not being able to fly in the Mass Ascension, which was to start the festival yesterday.
Bringing Sunny Boy to the event was a bonus for the Logans as the main aim of the trip was to bring its owner and pilot, Carol Weiner, over to reunite their Kiwi-American family.
The Logans met Carol at Balloons Over Wairarapa in 2004, where they volunteered for her crew and they "just clicked".
"We all got on like a house on fire," said Phil. "We formed a great friendship and we're one big family now."
Phil and Siobhan thought they would never see Carol again after the 2004 event and struggled to keep in touch after the festival because they lacked a computer. Phil promised Carol they would visit her if they ever had the money to go to America.
On June 24, 2009, the Logans got the money to go to America. Irish Luck syndicate members Siobhan, her mother Margaret Heaney, sister Fiona Wilton and daughter Alicia won $36.9 million, the biggest ever NZ lottery prize.
"We ended up buying a computer and sent Carol an email and I think she just about died," said Phil. "The first thing I said was, we're going to America."
The Logans paid for Carol, Sunny Boy and another pilot to come to New Zealand, with five other crew members in tow.
It was no small feat to get Sunny Boy to our shores, with Phil, Siobhan and Carol having to fill out mountains of paperwork and battle snowstorms to get the sun-shaped yellow balloon on the plane, but Carol said the important thing is that he made it. Two crew members also had a hard time getting here, missing the plane from LA and arriving a day late.
"Every time Sunny Boy was to get picked up, we were caught in a snowstorm," said Carol.
Sunny Boy ideally requires 12 people to operate and Carol has recruited Phil and Siobhan's children and grandchild to help.
Sunny Boy lights Kiwi skies
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