‘Glow on the Greens’ for 8th
annual Citrus Classic Balloon Festival
July 24, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
It’ll be a “Glow on the Greens” when the 8th Annual Citrus Classic Balloon Festival offers a scaled back but still highly anticipated celebration September 18 at its new venue, Mountain View Golf Course in Santa Paula.
In 2016 the festival will again be a two-day event said Carla Edwards, who founded the celebration of balloons, food and fun in 2008 to highlight Santa Paula and bring visitors to the city.
Held the first year at Santa Paula Airport and then subsequent years at the Limoneira Co. soccer fields, planned development in the area put the brakes on several events utilizing the sports field, including the Balloon Festival.
And Edwards said Mountain View Golf Course, located at 16799 S. Mountain View Road south of the Santa Clara River is a perfect venue for the September 18 celebration, which will be held from 6 to 10 p.m.
The “Glow on the Greens” will feature a field dinner, beer garden, food trucks and a hot air balloon glow featuring 15 illuminated, shimmering orbs, tethered hot air balloons that will be inflated at dusk, the most famous — and favorite — part of the annual festival.
The dinner — Edwards said seating this year is limited to 300 — will feature acclaimed Chef Danny Everett, who will create a Southern infused international menu for the dinner in the tradition of his famed SoulFête!
CASP (Community Assistance Santa Paula) the city’s own food bank and the Meals on Wheels programs (both operate under the umbrella AIM a.k.a. Assistance, Interest & Meals Council) will be the primary nonprofit benefiting from the event.
Edwards said AIM President Duane Ashby has much experience with the festival and the organization eventually will run the event “as their primary fundraiser.”
Other nonprofits that will be partnering with the event through volunteer support so far include Future Farmers of America, the Optimist Club and Santa Clara Valley Hospice-Home Support Group.
Ticket sales — the price has not yet been finalized — will primarily be online through the festival’s website, but Edwards said tickets would also be available at Santa Paula’s Cruise Nites.
The website is being updated but the event does have a Facebook page under 8th Annual Citrus Balloon Festival.
Although this year’s event was pushed back to September and shortened to one day, Edwards said next year the festival will be the traditional two days and held as usual in July on the 29th and 30th, again at Mountain View Golf Course.
“Mountain View is beautiful,” and Edwards said the setting, with various water features and 100-year-old pines, is “The perfect setting for the Glow…”
