Balloons rise over Steamboat as the rodeo begins
If it’s rodeo you are looking for, a mid-July weekend escape to the Rocky Mountain town of Steamboat Springs will help you get your fill - and some!
Steamboat is known nationally for the Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo Series - the most successful weekly rodeo in the country and that it has been named “Best Small Town Rodeo in North America”. It should be no surprise then that a balloon festival in a cowboy town would also be branded a “rodeo”. The 29th Annual Hot Air Balloon Rodeo floats into Steamboat on Saturday, July 11, 2009 and is one of the most anticipated weekends of the summer.
It’s a spectacular early-morning affair on Saturday and Sunday with over 40 hot air balloons rising softly from the mist and drifting over the valley. Get up close and personal with all the action on the launch field watching the pilots prepare for take off! Bring your camera for this is a great photography opportunity. As for the “rodeo”, the pilots spice up the action with some extra fun spearing small helium filled balloons dotted around the launch site and demonstrate their flying skills by working the airflow at different altitudes to return close to the point of take off.
Finish your day with some bull-riding
After the morning flight, head over to West Lincoln Park for Steamboat’s biggest arts and crafts festival. The 35th Annual Art in the Park has become a staple of Steamboat in the Summertime ( Saturday from 9-5pm and Sunday 9-4pm).
And if you are looking for a little more rodeo action to finish out your day, the Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo Series in downtown Steamboat Springs begins at 7:30 p.m (every Friday and Saturday from June 19 - August 22).
Yee-haa!!
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