Hot air balloon festival starts off with queen crowning and tethered rides
Candace Cormack, right, clapped for Josey Lillibridge, who was just crowned the 2017 Coshocton Hot Air Balloon Festival queen. Cormack represented the festival as the 2016 queen. Josie Sellers | Beacon
Josey Lillibridge, the 2017 Coshocton Hot Air Balloon Festival Queen, waves as she prepares to take a tethered balloon ride on June 8. The tethered rides were part of the fun at the festival, which was held June 8-10 at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds. Josie Sellers | Beacon
COSHOCTON – Candace Cormack was a little sad to pass on her hot air balloon queen title, but she knew it was going to someone who would love the experience and represent Coshocton well.
“I worked with great people and had such a blast being queen,” she said. “I’m so excited for Josey (Lillibridge) though. She is going to have so much fun.”
Cormack had the pleasure of crowning Lillibridge, the 2017 Coshocton Hot Air Balloon Festival Queen, during a ceremony held June 8 at the fairgrounds.
“Thank you for this wonderful opportunity,” Lillibridge said, to those who attended her crowning. “I have big shoes to fill, but I’m looking forward to having fun and representing this festival as well as I can.”
She is no stranger to serving on royal courts as she represented the county as the 2015-2016 West Lafayette Homecoming Queen.
“I missed being queen and I really like the hot air balloon festival,” Lillibridge said. “I’m looking forward to representing it because it’s not something that is super common.”
She got her first up close hot air balloon experience later in the evening when she participated in the tethered balloon rides that were open to the public.
“I’m not going to lie, it was scary,” Lillibridge said. “It was cool though because you could see everything kind of like when you ride the Ferris wheel at the fair.”
A long line for the tethered rides quickly formed behind Lillibridge, with Zanesville residents Lexi Mercer and Season McDonald being next to take their turn floating above the ground.
“It’s not as scary as I thought it was going to be,” Mercer said.
Both ladies said the experience was one they could cross off their bucket lists.
“It was very peaceful up there,” McDonald said.
The tethered rides were given in the Touchstone Energy Balloon and cost $20, which was donated to the Frontier Power Community Connections Fund. Kelly Kendall, from The Frontier Power Company, the major sponsor for the festival, said the fund has helped with many community projects over the years including assisting with renovations at the Triple Locks Theater and assisting Habitat for Humanity and First Step.
“This was very well received last year so we decided to do the tethered rides twice this year,” Kendall said. “We’ve had a lot of people say over the years that they wanted to be able to go up in the balloons so this gives them a little of that experience.”
Category: Arts & Entertainment
