Friday Night Lights
The Collierville Balloon Festival was held this past weekend. Several Holly Springs Rotary Club members and I volunteered for Friday Night Lights, the festival’s centerpiece.
Friday Night Lights is held for children and adults with special needs and their families in the Mid-South region. Holly Springs Rotary Club sponsored four families to attend.
The festival had over 20 colorful hot-air balloons, live entertainment, arts and crafts, vendors, and a family fun-filled carnival experience.
This is the first year the Holly Springs Rotary Club had volunteers at the event. We decided to carpool to the event and meet at the newspaper office around 3 p.m. Dennis Jones and his wife, Ella, loaded up in the car and headed to Collierville. Patricia Merriweather called and said she would meet at the festival.
We arrived at 4:30 p.m. Everyone was so busy getting everything ready. The carnival rides were already up and running, and people were getting the sound set for the stage.
The Commissary restaurant and Pizza Hut catered the Friday event. They were unloading trucks with all the fixings. The Commissary is known for their delicious world-famous Memphis-style barbecue and Pizza Hut has some of the best pan pizza around.
Dennis and his wife, Ella, Patricia Merriweather, and I served food during the event. The families enjoyed a plate of free pizza or a barbecue plate, with a drink. The pizza was the hot item for the kids, but many of parents enjoyed the barbecue.
“I’m so glad I volunteered for this event,” Dennis Jones said. “I will do this again next year.”
It was a fantastic event to be a volunteer.
Each serving table had to have five volunteers. We were short one. There were several high school volunteers from several schools. Cooper, from Hernando High School, came with several friends to volunteer at the event. Cooper helped at our table.
There was live music, a Kids’ Zone sponsored by Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, food trucks, other food vendors, and arts & crafts vendors. The families enjoyed the carnival rides and midway games.
Some brought blankets and lawn chairs to sit back and watch the hot-air balloons take families up for an experience of a lifetime.
Saturday and Sunday, the event was open to the public, and approximately 10,000 plus attended.
Next year, I would like to go up in a tethered hot-air balloon or actually take a hot-aired balloon flight. I’m not good with heights, but I believe I would be okay if I don’t look down. The tethered hot-air balloon rides were only $20, but for those who wanted to take a balloon flight, the cost was $300.
The Collierville Balloon Festival is a 501c3 non-profit organization, and proceeds from this event will support education needs in the community.
This event would not be possible without the support of Rotary sponsors and donations from various Rotary Clubs in the area.
It was a great event that we all were glad to participate in. To see all the smiles, from kids to adults, with face painting and excitement on their faces as they prepared to ride a tethered hot-aired balloon. Mark your calendars. It will be an event not to miss next year.