Some FACTS about Dansville.
- Dansville was first settled in 1795 by Daniel Faulkner, a local storekeeper and Militia Captain.
- Birthplace of the American Red Cross, founded in 1881 by Clara Barton.
- Pioneered by Nathaniel Rochester, founder of the City that bears his name.
Dansville was the very first Chapter of The American Red Cross. That is an amazing fact in it'self. Although, that is not why I visited on August 31st of this year. Over the years, I have been accused, some say rightly so, while others disagree, of being full of hot air. Well, I wanted to put that fact to rest. I visited Dansville to see if that were true.
I went to this wide open field, with a lot of open ground, and some paved ways I think are called runways, and I went, and I breathed deeply many many times, and I held the air in, and I was trying to determine if I were indeed filled with Hot Air.
The reason I was at this place, also called the Dansville Airport, was that I could not think of a better place to test this out than at a Hot Air Balloon Festival. I felt that if I could float, I might be mistaken for a balloon, and I would fit right in with the Festival. Also, during the day, if you were so inclined, you could purchase a ride in a sail plane as this airport is a home field for a sailplane group.
If you look closely at the nose, you can still see the tow rope still attached to the sailplane. In second photo, the sailplane is alone and free to move about as the thermals may take it.
Balloons launch early in the morning, 7 AMish, and again around 6 PM. There are plenty of vendors about, as well as a Lumber Jack show to help keep you entertained through out the day. Being that this was Labor Day weekend, some people just dressed to show their patriotism.
As you well may have guessed, I never did get off the ground. Although, I could have cheated a bit, and paid to ride in a balloon, but that would have defeated my experiment. Since I had not achieved liftoff, I asked a person there at the event to also try along with me to see if we could get air born.
Hmm, even with the hot air from two people, we could not achieve lift off. I do not know about her, but I for one almost felt like I was ready to lift off, but then again maybe that was just because I was dizzy and light headed. Below now are some more of the balloons. It was a dicey day for a launch as the winds picked up to 10 MPH, and that is at high limit for safe take offs for balloons. As it was, there were about 30 successful launches, but, alas, there were 4 that were fully inflated, but, winds became too dangerous, and they had to be deflated. One of them was Pirate Pete. it was by far the tallest balloon, but, was one that had to be scrubbed. I still have some photos when it was inflated.
This marks the 32nd year of the festival, and my first for attending. As you may have guessed, I never did get off the ground
