What started as a weekend of tethered balloon rides, live country music and a camel named Charlie ended in chaos Saturday night when Zachary police shut down the 4th Annual Zachary Really Hot Air Balloon Festival following reports of gunfire at BREC's Zachary Community Park. Police and emergency crews swept through the grounds around 8:10 p.m. to clear attendees after shots were reported fired, cutting the festival's second and final night short.
The sudden shutdown came as reported by WBRZ, which said officers flooded the 43-acre park to move festivalgoers off the property once word of gunfire spread. The festival had been running smoothly up to that point, drawing families for tethered balloon rides and a Saturday evening balloon glow, according to a photo published by NOLA.com, whose staff photographer Michael Johnson captured attendee Jameson Svoren at the event, including a moment when goats at the Cajun Cuties petting zoo attempted to sneak food from him.
A Festival Built On Family Fun
The Zachary Really Hot Air Balloon Festival was co-founded in 2023 by local residents Shawnel Hebert and Ashleigh McHugh, both of whom are married to hot air balloon pilots, in partnership with the nonprofit Downtown Live at The Gazebo, according to 225 Magazine. The pair set out to turn the multi-day ballooning celebration into a flagship summer event for their hometown, and this year's edition ran Friday, August 14, through Saturday, August 15, at BREC's Zachary Community Park.
The park itself is one of 12 designated community parks maintained by the Recreation and Park Commission in East Baton Rouge Parish, per BREC, spanning 43 acres with a splash pad, skate park, dog park, walking track, fishing pond and nature trails. This year's lineup leaned into that family-friendly footprint, with local country performer Thomas Cain playing Friday night and the Lauren Lee Band and The Chase Tyler Band scheduled for Saturday evening, according to 225 Magazine's weekend roundup. Tethered balloon rides and night balloon glows were planned around the music when weather conditions allowed, since those flights are tightly restricted by wind speeds and thermal currents that shift with south Louisiana's summer heat, as the outlet has separately noted.
Cars, Camels And A Food Drive
Beyond the balloons, the weekend featured local automotive showcases, with the 225 Jeep Club setting up Friday evening and Zachary Cars & Coffee following Saturday afternoon alongside dozens of artisan and craft vendor booths, according to a Facebook post from the event. Families also got to meet Charlie the Camel and a traveling menagerie of goats, sheep and a miniature horse courtesy of the Watson-based Cajun Cuties Mobile Petting Zoo, a family-owned business that brings interactive animal exhibits to community events across southern Louisiana.
Ahead of the festival, the City of Zachary and organizers ran a “Pack the Pantry” food drive, offering attendees who donated three non-perishable food items a raffle entry to win free hot air balloon flights. The city said the drive was meant to help replenish the Zachary Food Pantry during what it described as critical summer inventory shortages.
Echoes Of A 2024 Shooting Near The Grounds
Saturday's police response was not the first time violence has touched the festival's surroundings. During the second annual event in August 2024, a double shooting occurred shortly after festival hours in a neighborhood pool area off Old Scenic Highway adjacent to the park, critically injuring two people, including a young girl, according to Unfiltered with Kiran. Investigators at the time looked into whether a dispute that began on the festival grounds had migrated to the neighboring subdivision.
Zachary sits about 16 miles north of Baton Rouge and had an estimated 2026 population exceeding 20,000, with a median household income topping $80,000, making it one of the highest-income municipalities in East Baton Rouge Parish, according to Citizen Portal. The city is regionally known for its top-performing public school system and steady suburban growth, a reputation that stands in contrast to the two public safety scares that have now touched consecutive years of its signature summer festival.
