Angola Balloons Aloft ready to kick off on July 10 | Special Sections

One of the big features this year will be the return of paid hot air balloon rides over the Angola area.

People can go up in the sky in shared rides at a cost of $310 apiece.

“This year we have four balloons offering paid rides to the public. Rides will be in a shared basket; they’re not private rides. This is the first year in about eight years we’ve offered these so we’re pretty excited,” said Janet Hartsuff, marketing director for the event.

The rides will be offered five times, twice on Friday, twice Saturday and bright and early on Saturday. The early flights take off at 5:30 a.m. and the evening flights are at 6:30 p.m.

This year, of the 37 balloons, there will be six special shapes and 27 balloons in competition.

This year’s special shapes include Space Cowboy, Splash Duck, Cynthia Seal, Yellow Bird, Boo and American Rocket.

American Rocket will be part of a special launch honoring America’s 250th birthday.

The balloons in competition literally travel to Angola from across the country. Most of the balloons are from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, with one based in Nevada and another from South Carolina.

“Our pilots come from across the country to share their passion for ballooning with the Angola community. Each pilot is sponsored by a local business or organization,” said the Balloons Aloft website.

This year there will be characters mingling among the crowd, including Anna and Elsa from Frozen and cartoon favorite Bluey as well as Captain America.

There will be live music, and a new addition, sky divers on Saturday. Each night at twilight there will be hot air balloon illuminations or glows to delight the crowd.

Competition flights take place nightly at 7 p.m. and start the day at 7 a.m. On Sunday there’s only the competition flight to round out the festival.