Event officials reminded the Snowmass community that this weekend’s balloon festival will carry on despite the lack of air time.

Snowmass Tourism announced last week that hot air balloons at the 50th Snowmass Balloon Festival would not be airborne due to the wildfire risk posed by the balloons as the area sees extreme drought. Sara Stookey Sanchez, public relations manager for Snowmass Tourism, said that apart from the flying, the 50th anniversary will carry on with an event-packed weekend. 

“Even though the balloons are doing a static inflate and not flying, this is still our 50th anniversary year,” she wrote in a prepared statement. 

She said the weekend schedule will remain the same as it would have before grounding. The Night Glow, where attendees can walk among grounded, lit up balloons, will still occur from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday. From 7 to 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday mornings, 15 hot air balloons will do a static inflate, rather than fly. 

“If folks don’t know what a static inflate is, think of it as Night Glow, but in the daytime,” she said in the statement. “The photo (opportunities) will still be endless, and the pilots and crew will have more time this year to talk with guests (as opposed to getting ready to fly in years past).”

She added that for the 50th anniversary there will be “tons of giveaways” as well, such as 50th anniversary trading cards from pilots and custom playing cards featuring balloons from the past 50 years. Stickers, pins, and glow in the dark goodies — for the Night Glow specifically — will be available. 

Vendors will also sell coffee, breakfast treats, hot dogs, and merch, Stookey Sanchez said. 

The change comes as Snowmass Village sees record-setting drought conditions, Roaring Fork Fire Rescue Fire Marshall John Mele told Snowmass council Monday. Regarding the grounding, he said that his main fire concern was that in-flight balloons — which have propane-driven open flames and hot burners — could drift off course and land in areas where an accurate fire response would not be guaranteed, given the extreme fire conditions. 

“I have experience enough with this village to know how quickly a wildfire can take off in this area,” he said. 

Snowmass Tourism Senior Events Producer Shane Vetter told The Aspen Times last week that vehicles involved with in-flight balloons at the festival, too, would have posed a threat, as heat coming from car parts could cause wildfires — another reason the balloons will remain grounded. 

“The conditions that are on the ground right now are as bad as they could be for this type of event. We have a lot of different vehicles that have to go to high grass to retrieve balloons,” he said of the normal-year balloon flying vehicle procedure. 

More information about this weekend’s balloon festival can be found at aspensnowmass.com/visti/events/snowmass-balloon-festival.