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Palm trees, golden sand and gentle waves set a glorious tropical scene on Hollywood beach, but beachgoers should pack their cameras Friday through Jan. 4 to capture a vision they'll never forget.
"It's going to be a true spectacle on the beach," said David Erickson, creator of the first Hollywood Beach Balloon Festival and owner of Project Marketing.
Six hot-air balloons, 70 feet tall and 65 feet wide, will land on the sand along Hollywood's Broadwalk for three days of please-touch demonstrations, question and answers with gondola pilots, and exciting tethered rides.
Erickson said anyone who likes the beach will love it even more when it is dotted with huge balloons in just about every color of the rainbow.
"At 7 p.m. every night, the balloons will be flamed up high and set aglow. Imagine that scene with the ocean in the background? Awesome," Erickson said.
Festival hours are noon to 11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.Jan. 4. Rides, at $20 each, will be offered from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. all three days, weather permitting.
Nighttime concerts will coincide with the festival.
First up, on Friday, will be Florida bluesman Bill "The Sauce Boss" Wharton. Saturday night will spotlight New Orleans rocker Rockin' Jake. On Sunday, the event will conclude with the eclectic blues, rock and funky jazz of Jason Ricci & New Blood from Nashville.
Charities also will benefit from the fun.
Ellen Bithell, an owner of RE/MAX Executive Realty in downtown Hollywood, said the company will offer rides in the famous RE/MAX balloon.
Half of the fee will go to the Children's Miracle Network and the other half will support festival costs.
Erickson said all of the balloon operators and owners have pledged to donate 50 percent to charities such as the Broward Outreach Center and then give the rest to the event.
"We want to do this every year and make it bigger and better," Erickson said.
Bithell also hopes to toss in a little business networking. She said people are so inundated with gloom-and-doom bad news about the economy that they don't recognize the opportunities creeping through the clouds.
"We're starting to see great deals on investments. This is a great chance to get out our positive response to the bad news that we never read or hear about," Bithell said.
For "balloonatics" the event is all about hot air. The tethered rides, depending on weather conditions, average about 100 feet in the air for about four minutes.
"The fun is all about the experience of touching the balloon, being in the balloon and taking off in the balloon," Erickson said.
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