'It's just magic' - behind the scenes of Bristol's Balloon Fiesta

"I didn't realise it would get so big, it's become something of an institution now - every August we fill the skies with balloons," says 84-year-old Don Cameron, one of the founders of Bristol's International Balloon Fiesta.

It was 45 years ago that Mr Cameron and a group of fellow balloonists staged the first balloon fiesta.

"It was a small affair then, we had 14 balloons and no crowds to speak of - just a few balloon enthusiasts watching and from there it's grown to become a show of all kinds of things," Mr Cameron said.

"Anyone who tries ballooning knows it's just magic."

Mr Cameron and his fellow board members have been busy planning the fiesta to ensure it is better each year, despite the current cost-of-living crisis making sticking to a budget increasingly difficult.

"As soon as the fiesta is over, the committee will be meeting and discussing what's been learnt and what can be done for the next year," he says.

A man central to that is Ben Hardy, director of operations for the fiesta, who has been doing the job for 15 years.

"Everyone just thinks we turn up on Wednesday and it's ready for Thursday but it's a massive job - it's a whole team and we start planning in September for the following August," he says.

"It's a big operation and something I think Bristol should be really proud of that it's on their doorstep."

While the core team works all year to make sure things run smoothly, by the time the festival starts there are up to 350 people working on site.

"Ever since it was created by Don Cameron and the whole gang in 1979 it's been a not-for-profit organisation, so we have to raise all the money," Mr Hardy says.

"Pre-pandemic that cost was £730,000-740,000. Last year if we had done everything exactly the same that cost would have gone to £1.1m, so we actually had to change a lot of things, use a lot more local suppliers and we got that cost down to £850,000."

Mr Hardy also said the cost-of-living crisis was why the fiesta is still a free event for people, despite the rising costs.

He said: "The fiesta is an interesting one as our headline act is very weather dependent and when they do turn up they then fly off.

"We've done a lot of thinking about do we charge for public entrance or not - the board have decided we shouldn't charge.

"We recognise we're in a cost of living crisis and lots of families love coming to the fiesta, so we're adamant we keep it free.

"Costs have increased so we're trying to continue to do this within budget - a few weeks ago we had a £130,000 gap in budget, we've reduced that by about half now, but that's been really challenging."

The festival also tries to be as sustainable as possible with Stagecoach shuttle buses planned to help get people into Ashton Court but as Mr Hardy explains, the bulk of their budget comes from car parking ticket sales.

He said: "The whole team get behind making that money - burger vans, ice cream vans, our sponsors, but a third comes from our car parking sales, so it's really important if you want to keep the fiesta in Bristol that you buy a car parking ticket."

This year 110 balloon teams will be in charge of 85 balloons including some model balloons and more special shapes than usual, like Thomas the Tank Engine and Snow White.

"They all do this for free as they love Bristol", Mr Hardy says.

Ian Martin, the night glow choreographer, says "a lot of hard work" goes into pulling off the evening displays.

He said: "We get the track from BBC Radio Bristol before the fiesta and then I start planning how I want the glow to go."

The balloonist explains the burns are planned to create the most impact in time to the music and Mr Martin directs as many as 25 balloon teams taking part through a radio system.

Balloons are assigned numbers and told if they're in the left or right hand column, as well as being colour coded, so the burns can be choregraphed.

Mr Martin said: "It takes a while to plan and we don't practice the glows - we used to with light bulbs, but it didn't really work.

"This year we really want people to light up their phone torches in the glows, it's going to be a lovely spectacle".

Two weeks before the fiesta start the team get on site at Ashton Court, building temporary roadways and building the balloon arena, while 350 food and trade vans turn up one week before the event.

After all of that, it's left to the organisers to hope for good weather.

Mr Cameron said: "We've had enough challenges for the moment and fingers crossed for the weather.

"Certainly we hope the fiesta will go well, we've got the usual numbers of balloonists taking part and we just hope for normal luck."

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