Roughly 70 hot air balloons will lift off from Memorial Park in Colorado Springs each morning this weekend, kicking off a festival that organizers expect to draw around 200,000 people to the city's biggest annual gathering. The Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off has been held every Labor Day since 1977, and this year's edition runs from Saturday through Monday with free general admission for anyone who shows up.
The balloons begin inflating on the Memorial Park field around 6:30 a.m. each day, with the mass ascension over Prospect Lake happening between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., according to the dossier's event-specific detail sourced to Labor Day Lift Off. As reported by the Denver Gazette, the evening schedule on Saturday and Sunday starts at 3:30 p.m. and builds toward a 7 p.m. balloon glow, when tethered balloons light up in place after sunset.
Colorado Springs' high elevation and cool morning mountain air give pilots an edge that lower-altitude festivals don't have. The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum notes that the dense, cool air at altitude allows balloons to generate greater lift using less propane, though it also demands more precise burner control from pilots navigating the city's high-altitude thermal conditions.
From a Black Forest Rally to a National Draw
The festival's roots trace back to 1976, when it began as a small, informal gathering of local balloon enthusiasts in Black Forest before establishing its permanent home at Memorial Park the following year, per the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. In 2015, the event was rebranded from the Colorado Balloon Classic to the Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off under new management by Hot Apple Productions, working alongside Rainbow Ryders and the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation — a transition that preserved the festival's free admission model, according to Labor Day Lift Off.
Today it ranks as the third-largest hot air balloon event in the country and is one of only two major national balloon festivals that don't charge general admission, per reporting cited by The Gazette. The Denver Gazette describes it as one of the largest hot air balloon festivals in the Rocky Mountain region.
The festival also carries the legacy of its founder, Charles “Dewey” Reinhard, known as Colorado's “Father of Ballooning.” Reinhard, a 2023 inductee into the FAI Ballooning Hall of Fame who once attempted a trans-Atlantic balloon flight and won national gas balloon championships, died in July 2023 at age 93, according to The Gazette's coverage at the time.
Drone Shows, Accessible Baskets, and a New Village
Organizers have swapped traditional fireworks for choreographed drone light shows set to music, a move that eliminates wildfire risk and cuts down on noise for nearby neighborhoods, per Pink Realty. This weekend's schedule includes a 6 a.m. drone show during each morning session and a 9:30 p.m. drone show on Saturday and Sunday nights.
The festival has also added a wheelchair-accessible hot air balloon basket fitted with four-point harnesses, letting guests with mobility disabilities join a flight; the custom basket can hold one wheelchair along with up to three additional passengers, according to Labor Day Lift Off. For those chasing flight rather than watching from the ground, Rainbow Ryders Hot Air Balloon Company serves as the festival's official ride operator, offering public passenger flights priced between $345 and $395 per person, typically lasting 45 minutes to an hour over the Pikes Peak region, per Pikes Peak reporting.
New this year is SkyFest Village, an expanded festival grounds area with additional food vendors, a bigger beer garden, and children's attractions including a Ninja Nation Obstacle Course, according to Kids Out and About Denver. The Denver Gazette's rundown of this weekend's schedule also lists a beer and mimosa garden, a remote-control balloon display, live music, and a 10 a.m. paddleboarding session on Prospect Lake Saturday and Sunday, followed by glow paddleboarding after dark those same two nights.
All of it unfolds against a backdrop that organizers can plan but never fully control. Ballooning depends heavily on morning wind and weather conditions, meaning the mass ascensions and evening glows remain subject to last-minute delays or cancellations if conditions turn.
