Lack of money grounds Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival permanently
The Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival, an annual fixture at Chatfield State Park for nearly a decade, has been canceled permanently.
“We just don’t have the time or the resources in this economy to make this work,” said Terry Smith, one of the event’s organizers.
Smith said she and husband Gery DeKoevend, one of the festival’s co-creators, decided at the end of 2008 to cancel this year’s festival, which was scheduled for Aug. 28-30. But after trying to organize a 2010 festival and realizing how difficult it would be to pull in the major sponsors needed, the couple realized they would have to cancel the event permanently.
“Ultimately, what we decided was that it’s no longer feasible because the sponsorship issue is a big deal in this economy,” Smith said. “We haven’t made any money, and we’ve incurred a lot of personal debt. We just can’t carry it anymore.”
Smith said the event costs between $100,000 and $125,000, and that she and DeKoevend were losing money on the festival every year. More than 50 balloon pilots came each year, Smith said, with the festival’s high in 2007 when 75 pilots showed up. Even with last summer’s gas prices through the roof, 50 pilots showed up. She estimated that the event regularly drew 50,000 people over a three-day period each year.
