Durham’s annual hot air balloon event has been postponed until spring 2020 due to the expected bad weather. This year would have marked its third edition and was scheduled for the August bank holiday weekend.
Balloons InDurham organisers are not alone in the decision as many other events have also bowed to the forecasted weather including Boardmasters, Houghton Festival and Plymouth Pride.
The event was originally planned for May bank holiday, but organisers rescheduled for August to allow it to be held in the city centre, rather than at East Durham’s College’s Houghall Campus – the festival’s home for the past two years.
Durham’s Business Improvement District (BID), the organisers behind the event, announced “continually poor weather forecasts” had forced their hands, as well as issues with the new location.
Adam Deathe, Durham BID business engagement manager commented: “We appreciate a lot of people will be disappointed by the news that Balloons InDurham will be returning to the city in 2020, rather than August of 2019 as initially hoped.
“As I’m sure you can appreciate, events of this scale take an awful lot of behind-the-scenes planning and, due to logistical constraints beyond our control, it has not been possible to bring together all elements that would allow a city centre site to host the hot air balloon launches this year, at a time that would well for all stakeholders involved and the wider city’s event calendar.
“The continued turbulent weather, as a result of the jet stream remaining stubbornly south of the UK, shows no signs of settling and so we have decided to cease efforts this year.”
Deathe continued that the “added time” that the delay had afforded the organisers meant that more planning and effort could go into making the 2020 edition “bigger and better than before.”
Last year, events were split between East Durham College and The Sands in the city centre. Organisers had hoped to host this year’s event entirely in the city centre.
Author: Molly Hookings
Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com
