Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The 38th Annual Michigan Challenge Balloonfest floats in this weekend on the grounds of the Howell High School complex.

The event is the state championship of hot air ballooning. It’s put on by the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce, is completely volunteer driven, and brings thousands to the area every year.

This year will feature some changes and many returning favorites.

Chamber President Janelle Best tells WHMI they’ve been able to do some really cool things with the event this year and had a lot more flexibility now that the pandemic is over. She said it’s exciting to see some new additions and noted they’ve changed the footprint a bit as well.

Best said they’ve brought things in a little bit tighter because it is a lot of ground to cover for visitors and they’re always looking at ways to have the event flow a little bit better and she thinks the changes will add to the overall experience.

Best noted there will be a limited number of printed brochures this year as they’re moving very digital this year in an effort to be more sustainable and improve the visitor experience. As part of that, Best says they’ve debuted a new app that can be downloaded online to access real-time information about the event.

Also new this year will be shuttles between the Balloonfest grounds and the downtown area as part of a new partnership and collaboration with LETS.

WHMI News will have ongoing Balloonfest updates this week leading up to and during the event.

Complete details are available in the provided link.