Balloons Return for Expanded Celebrate Anderson

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Hot air balloons will return to Anderson County’s “Celebrate Anderson” Labor Day event this year.

The county’s annual event will expand to four days, Sept. 1-4, with new activities at the Anderson Civic Center, including the annual balloon event of the Cancer Association of Anderson: “The Hot Air Affair: Rising Above Cancer.”

“This is a great partnership between Anderson County and the Cancer Association of Anderson County and we are excited about it,” said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns. “There will be a lot more to do at this year’s Celebrate Anderson.”

After five years in Williamston, the “Hot Air Affair” will feature more than 20 hot air balloons flying, giving tethered balloon rides and nightly displays of the balloons glowing.

The expanded Celebrate Anderson will offer kids’ activities every day along with music, food, and other vendors, all for the benefit of the agency which supports cancer patients of Anderson County and their families.

While the Celebrate Anderson headliner has not been secured, Burns expects an expanded budget will allow for a big name on the new stage at the civic center amphitheater .

From 1998-2006, Anderson was host to the now-defunct “Freedom Weekend Aloft,” which brought hot air balloon enthusiasts from across the country to the county. In the years that followed, Anderson hosted the “Great American Balloon Fest” and “Balloons Over Anderson,” but neither ever were financially viable.