Current Poll
Featured Jobs
| A hot start to spring break |
 |
 |
 |
| News | |||
| Written by Brian McCauley | |||
| Wednesday, 18 March 2009 09:00 | |||
|
Becky Petrehn is used to the look of awe and excitement that washes over a child’s face when he or she gazes at a brightly colored hot air balloon lofting across the sky or slowly being inflated on the ground — but she never gets tired of it. “They love it, they absolutely love it,” Petrehn said with a smile Monday as children playfully scurried in and out of a partially inflated balloon on display at the Miami County Fairgrounds. “Once they touch it, they’re hooked. They try to chase them in the sky. And it’s not just kids. I see it in 5-year-olds and 35-year-olds.” Children of all ages enjoyed a chance to see a big balloon up close and personal Monday during the first of several spring break events planned by Deb Weatherbie of the Paola Free Library. Petrehn, who lives south of Louisburg and runs a hot air balloon business called Balloon Ad-Ventures, allowed children to play inside of a partially inflated “retired” balloon as well as sit in a basket and see how the burners work.  “Whoa!” the children shouted as Petrehn pulled on a burner, shooting a flame high into the sky above the crowd. Petrehn tried to make the event a learning experience as well, and she had several hot air balloon books on display, as well as an ad for a hot air balloon performance at the Miami County Fair in 1896. The sights and sounds were a special treat for the children Monday, but Petrehn has grown up around balloons all her life. She talked about how her father first fell in love with them after a friend from Topeka took him up in a balloon in the 1970s. He went on to get a balloon of his own and eventually set records for longest constant flight, Petrehn said. The love was passed on to many of his 11 children, six of whom are balloon pilots. Petrehn said she has seen a lot of interesting things during her balloon flights, and she has even taken people up to get married in the air. Weatherbie first learned about the balloon company when her husband hired Petrehn to take them on a flight for Deb’s 50th birthday. Monday’s event was just the beginning of Deb’s plans for the week. At 1 p.m. today, interested children can make and launch their own hot air balloons at the Paola Free Library, and on Friday, children can celebrate the 40th anniversary of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 503 Trackback(0)
Comments (0)
 Write comment
You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
