SEQUIM — The final day of the Sequim Balloon Festival will start off this morning with the Hare and Hound hot-air balloon race above the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.
Crystal Stout, air boss for the festival, and her balloon, the Diamond Sun, will serve as the hare in the race from the Sequim Valley Airport at 468 Dorothy Hunt Lane off Old Olympic Highway.
Stout will lift off at about 6 a.m. to find a landing site.
The site isn’t pre-determined. That will depend on the way the wind is blowing.
“The winds shift here in Sequim,” Stout said. “We’re all going with the wind. It’s going to make an interesting race.”
Once Stout has landed, she and her crew will set out a 30-foot X as a target.
The other 11 hot-air balloons will carry beanbags when they launch.
“They will throw the beanbags as close to the center of the X as possible,” Stout said Sunday.
The “hound” balloons won’t land in the same area as the “hare” but will go on beyond and find landing sites, Stout said.
The winner of the race will get a commemorative set of four bottles of wine from Wind Rose Cellars of Sequim and $100, Stout said.
After the race, the three-day festival continues for one final day at Grant Field, 792 West Sequim Bay Road, near the Holiday Inn Express and Black Bear Diner, 1441 E. Washington St.
Admission is $19 for those who did not purchase a three-day pass for $29.
Children 11 and younger are admitted free with adult ticket holders.
10,000 attendees
Attendance, judging by people watching balloons take off from Sequim Valley Airport, for the first two days of the festival was estimated at 10,000 people.
Activities at the festival include:
— Rides offered in the tethered RE/MAX balloon from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for donations to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
— “Artists of Elegance” arts and crafts show, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
— The Kids’ Corral, with children’s activities, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
— The “Balloon Up” food court and the “Social Medium” wine and beer garden, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Bands will play beginning at 10 a.m.
The schedule today is:
— 10 a.m. — Country with the Buck Ellard Band.
— 11:30 a.m. — Bluegrass and country with the Old Sidekicks.
— 1:30 p.m. — Street dance with music by the MLR (Moderately Loud Rock) band.
“Twilight in the Olympics” Night Glow, a lineup of lighted balloons beside the reflecting pond, was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday nights at about 8:30 p.m.
On Saturday, however, the wind was too strong to inflate the balloons. Instead, their burners were set next to the pond with the balloons behind them and the cars in the Hot Gas & Gear Car Show in front of the pond, Stout said.
“It was really windy, so we couldn’t put up the envelopes [inflate the balloons] themselves, but we could still put on a show,” Stout said, with “a sheet of 30-foot flames” she called “candles in the park.”
Also Saturday, a local couple, Wesley Igo and Sharon Uribe, were married in a balloon, Stout said.
The bride wore a sequined dress and the groom was dressed in a tuxedo, she said.
For more information about the festival, visit www.SequimBalloonFestival.com.
