The Balloons over Waikato Trust was formed 18 years ago and has since become an iconic annual event that attracts people to the Waikato from throughout New Zealand and around the world. 

Growing up in the Waikato, it becomes a part of your childhood. A yearly tradition of waking up at the crack of dawn to head to Innes Common at the Hamilton lake for the Balloons over Waikato events.

Every year, locals and tourists watch as the balloonists roll out their hot air balloons of all shapes and sizes then climb into their baskets, firing up the flame before the balloon inflates. A breath-taking sight as the colourful balloons rise into the sky, with the early morning sun shining over the shimmering lake.

The five-day event is a major tourist attraction for the Waikato that grows in attendance and popularity every year. Event managing director Michele Connell said this year’s event transpired into being one of the best they’ve had to date, with 24 hot air balloons and around 70,000 people attending the ZURU Nightglow grand finale.

It has been voted Best Waikato Event six times by the public in the Waikato Times Tempo Readers’ Choice Awards over the years and won the Best-Established Community Event in New Zealand at the NZAEP Awards in 2015.

During its inception, it consisted of only a few local balloonists in Hamilton, before the Balloons over Waikato Trust was formed in 1999 which Connell says ensured the longevity and professionalism of the event.

The first Balloons over Waikato event was held in 2000 at Innes Common. Connell says the difference between now and when it all began is budget-dependent, going from a few locals to now having balloonists from all throughout New Zealand as well as internationally.

“As the event becomes more of an iconic event in the Waikato we had more sponsorship support which meant that we could get some overseas pilots to come onboard because it does cost a lot of money to bring an overseas special shape balloon to New Zealand and we pay for everything,” Connell said.

“Sponsorship support is key to the event. This year we had the largest number of special-shaped balloons that we’ve had in a long time – we had six of them and they’re always the stars of the show”.

Over the years the event has had balloonists from all over the world including Canada, America, Australia, United Kingdom, China, and Brazil – in fact, a lot of the balloons are made in Brazil.

Connell says the offerings available to the public during the five-day event has grown, with the different opportunities they’ve had such as offering a free breakfast for the first 2000 people to arrive at Innes Common. They engage with other sponsors to partake in the mass balloon inflation mornings which brings an entertainment element to it.

The ZURU Nightglow in which the balloons inflate and light up to music in the dark as a glow show, but not lift off - was originally held at Innes Common until a number years ago when the event outgrew the venue. It relocated to the grounds of The University of Waikato which could hold a larger capacity of people attending the event and has enabled it to grow in size each year.

Connell says the night itself has become a co-ordinated show with a five-hour entertainment spectacle involving music, the glow show and fireworks display finale. So, while there’s always been music and entertainment, that’s now led on to more widely recognised lead acts. This year they had Jason Kerrison, former lead singer of Op Shop and last year Jordan Luck, former lead singer for The Exponents performed.

“We are just trying to bring lots more elements around a complete entertainment evening and that helps the growth of the number of people attending as well.”

She says it takes a year to plan each five-day event, so back-to-back they are working on it in some degree all year round because even the wrap-up of the event takes a while, and then it’s back into planning, securing funding and sourcing balloons.

“This year’s events were really satisfying for us that the balloons flew or inflated every day, and even though we had to postpone the ZURU Nightglow to the following night due to weather conditions, it transpired into being one of the best that we’ve had to date,” Connell said.

“It was fantastic, and we still had a great crowd, so, it was a really successful year for us”.