The Balloons over Waikato festival will take place without public events this year. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
The Balloons over Waikato festival will take place without public events this year. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
Waikato's iconic Balloons over Waikato annual festival has become a Covid casualty as organiser Classic Events confirms the event will be held without public interaction.
As in 2020, the hot air balloons will still fly over Hamilton, but the traditional morning fly-offs from Innes Common, Balloons Visit Waipā and the visitor-favourite Nightglow are all cancelled.
Classic Events managing director Michele Connell says she was extremely disappointed not to be able to hold the festival as planned.
"We are on plan Q now. We had planned for the traditional event like everyone knows it. Then, we adapted it to the orange [traffic light] setting, but now with Omicron, we had to adapt it again.
"We are going to be proceeding with the flying part of the festival ... so the city will still see balloons out there ... and we are planning for an online Nightglow of some sort."
Even if the traffic light settings would drop to orange in time, the festival will still be held without public gatherings as the team wouldn't have enough time to organise a large-scale event like Balloons over Waikato on short notice.
However, Connell encourages everyone to follow Balloons over Waikato on social media where Classic Events will be posting updates on the balloons and pilots and where they will be flying to. People will also still be able to book balloon rides.
She says it is a very tough time for the events industry and many events have been cancelled altogether.
"We are the first [industry] to close and the last to reopen.
"It is [currently] an industry of absolute crisis.
The iconic Nightglow will be held online this year. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
"A lot of events rely on ticket sales and it would not be financially viable to run them with 100 people. Balloons over Waikato is a free event, so we are not reliant on attendees which is why we decided to hold the event in a socially responsible way ... and deliver some aspects of the festival at the very least."
But with the event being free to the public means that Balloons Over Waikato doesn't qualify for the Government's insurance scheme.
"It means we don't have funding support ... I've written emails to the Government and I know the NZ Event Association sent a letter, but we didn't get any response.
"Retaining my staff is my priority, but it's hard with no income on the horizon and no income in the last month. It's getting tight."
Despite all, Connell keeps thinking positive.
"I fully intend to get through this ... The good times, the events, will come back and we want to make sure there is someone there to run them."
• To follow Balloons over Waikato on Facebook click here.
