Two dozen hot air balloons are set to fill the sky over the Portage County Fairgrounds in Randolph Township this weekend as the Ravenna Balloon A-Fair marks its 47th year, drawing visitors back to a festival that began as a tribute to the city's rubber manufacturing past. Among the crowd will be 81-year-old retired photographer Paul Kosinski, who attended the very first Balloon A-Fair in 1979 and has returned to nearly every one since.
The festival got its start in downtown Ravenna and gave the city a new identity at a time when it needed one, according to News 5 Cleveland. That civic reinvention traces back to community leaders like business college CEO Jean Wise, who helped launch the event in 1979 to boost local tourism and morale. Ravenna later experienced industrial closures and job losses in the 1980s and 1990s, according to WOSU Public Media. The festival's namesake industry, Oak Rubber Company, had once made Ravenna the world's largest producer of toy balloons before the company shut down its local operations in 1993, per the same station's reporting.
From Sunbeau Valley Farm to the Fairgrounds
For most of its history, the festival's hot air balloon launches took place at Sunbeau Valley Farm before organizers permanently moved them to the Portage County Fairgrounds in Randolph Township, WOSU reports. The relocation gave organizers room for bigger crowds and more parking, and it opened the door to additional attractions like tethered balloon rides. This year, visitors can get up close with balloons that stay grounded, with some even offering basket access, per News 5 Cleveland.
Ravenna Balloon A-Fair trustee Ben Mancino said the goal is to keep the event as hands-on as possible for attendees. The festival has expanded its lineup accordingly, adding helicopter rides, a motorcycle stunt show, and a growing number of balloons available for tethered flights, according to the outlet's report. Those additions build on a festival that already reaches well beyond Portage County: its Facebook page reached more than 3.5 million people last year, according to the Ravenna Balloon A-Fair, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that depends on corporate and in-kind sponsors.
What's Free, What Costs, and When
The event runs through the weekend, with activities split between the Portage County Fairgrounds and a Saturday festival in downtown Ravenna, per News 5 Cleveland. Gate admission at the fairgrounds runs $10 per day for adults, while kids 12 and under get in free and parking is free for everyone, according to the festival's own site. All downtown Ravenna activities remain free of charge.
This year's 47th annual festival carries the theme Red, White & Balloons, anchored by a Thursday Children's Parade featuring Mini Marshal Zuree Beach and a 90-minute Saturday Grand Parade through downtown Ravenna led by Grand Marshal LaJoyce Harris. Fairground offerings for 2026 include tethered balloon rides on Friday and Saturday, helicopter rides, monster truck rides, and unlimited inflatable passes, though all balloon launches and tethered rides depend on favorable wind and weather.
A Rubber Legacy Behind the Balloons
The city's connection to balloons runs deeper than the festival's name suggests. Oak Rubber Company, established in Akron in 1916 before relocating to Ravenna the following year, temporarily shifted from toy balloon production to synthetic rubber for military defense during World War II, earning the federal Army-Navy “E” Award for production excellence in 1944, according to WOSU Public Media.
The company's balloons even found their way into pop culture history. In 1934, Oak Rubber engineers custom-designed giant transparent balloons for burlesque dancer Sally Rand's famous balloon dance at the Chicago World's Fair, according to the Thomas Riddle Archive. The company's original primary factory at 645 Chestnut St. was torn down in 2022, nearly three decades after Oak Rubber left Ravenna for good.
For longtime attendees like Kosinski, the festival has outlasted the industry that inspired it, still drawing crowds to Northeast Ohio nearly half a century after its first flight.
