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Show v f V'. I- i I 5"''" " " 1,' J ' " - . . ' t - rim - ' -" ; , . ' '- fiMfc,, 7 ,."" ' ;,- v , - - - ' , I - ' 1. ' , " ' - i 4 . ' ' ' ' S . , ' ' This bicentennial balloon will fly at Park City's Autumn Aloft. Hot air balloon fest is coming In September, Park City will be treated to a hot air balloon festival that will celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of the first manned flight by the Mont-golfier Mont-golfier brothers of France. The event is called the Autumn Aloft, and the highlight high-light will be the Treaty of Paris balloon, created to also commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain 200 years ago. Autumn Aloft will take flight Sept. 17, 18 and 19, and will be sponsored by the Park City Balloon Club. Club President Gene Moser said that having the Treaty of Paris balloon in Park City is a "tremendous honor." The balloon was built by Raven Industries of Sioux Falls, South Dakota using a royal blue fabric with white stars and bearing the flags of the United States, Great Britain and France, plus the Treaty of Paris logo. The balloon is 70 feet high, weighs 654 pounds, and will be piloted by Patrick Michaels of Poolsville, Maryland. "This is a beautiful balloon designed by Lee Forman of Washington, D.C.," said Moser. He added that Dr. Joan Challinor, chairman of the National Committee for the Bicentennial of the Treaty of Paris will attend the festival. "We want to try and rescue this significant document docu-ment from it's undeserved obscurity," said Dr. Challinor. Challi-nor. "The beauty and language lan-guage of the Declaration of Independence and the drama of the battle of Yorktown have tended to overshadow, our first peace treaty. By the Treaty of Paris, Great Britain Brit-ain formally acknowledged the thirteen colonies were free and sovereign states and our western boundary extended to the Mississippi River." The American signers of the treaty, Benjamin Franklin, Frank-lin, John Jay and John Adams, watched the first balloon flights while in Paris to sign the treaty. Franklin wrote to his colleague Sir Joseph Banks. "When it went over our heads, we could see the Fire which was very considerable. consider-able. When they were as high as they chose to be, they made less Flame and suffered suf-fered the machine to drive horizontally with the Wind of which they felt very little, as they went with it, and as fast." John Quincy Adams shared Franklin's confidence confi-dence in the future of the balloon. In his diary he noted: "This discovery is a very important one, it may become be-come very useful to mankind." man-kind." Park City enthusiasts will have a chance to view more than 20 balloons, piloted by experts during the three-day festival. Special events, dinners and entertainment will surround the festival, which will be headquartered at the Park Meadows golf course. Aeronauts who have pledged to attend include Tom Nevison, Colorado; Stewart Roberts, Utah; Roger Hoppe, New Mexico; Wayne Woodmancy, Kansas; Kan-sas; and Chauncy Dunn, also of Colorado. |