For Immediate Release s295

Temecula Valley

Balloon & Wine Festival

May 31, June 1 & 2, 2013

PRESS RELEASE

AGENCY CONTACT: Melody Brunsting, Melody’s Ad Works Inc.

(951) 252-5649, melsads @aol.com

EVENT CONTACT: Carol Popejoy, (951) 676-6713

April 4, 2013

FLY WITH DOZENS OF OTHER HOT AIR BALLOONS

DURING THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BALLOON & WINE FESTIVAL

TEMECULA, CA - Hot Air Balloons often dot the periwinkle blue skies over Southern California's Wine Country, but during the Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival May 31-June 2, passengers will fly with dozens of other balloons providing a very unique photographic experience.

Balloon flights from the Festival are at dawn Saturday and Sunday of the event. The Festival is staged at Lake Skinner recreation area and on most days this provides a glorious ascension over the lake with a view of wine country (weather permitting). Occasionally cloud cover may force the balloons to launch offsite and at times providing another unique experience of actually landing at the Festival.

Come Festival days, more than 40 hot air balloons with their painter’s palette of brilliantly colored "envelopes" will gracefully float over Lake Skinner and Temecula's Wine Country. Festival guests can catch a flight Saturday ($210) and Sunday ($200) by reserving a balloon flight now at www.hotairtours.com or by calling 1-800-965-2122.

Watch for a unique shape balloon with a noble purpose this year. The Reach for The Stars hot air balloon is unique because it is wheel-chair accessible. There are very few balloons in the world that are wheel-chair accessible by virtue of the "gate" in the gondola basket. This year, however, Reach for The Stars has a new shape - that of a young child in a wheel-chair reaching for the stars. It stands over 130 feet tall (40 meters), the height of a 13 story building.

A hot air balloon flight is a once in a lifetime experience, flying with the Festival hot air balloons in a mass launch. Flights begin at 6 a.m. both days from the Festival grounds at Lake Skinner. The early bird catches this flight and photo. Balloons require cool air and gentle to no breeze in order to fly. Once temperatures and winds pick up in the valley, the balloons must land.

Balloon flights offer the best view of the Festival flying from Lake Skinner Recreation Area. The 40-50 minute flight majestically lifts passengers over the Festival grounds and often takes them out past vineyards and the surrounding terrain. The flights include same-day Festival admission, champagne or orange juice and a first flight certificate. Weather ultimately determines when and where the balloons can launch and land.

For guests who want to "try" their wings without letting go of terra firma, the Festival offers free tethered rides Saturday and Sunday morning after the launch. These balloon rides are about 10 minutes long. The rides are sponsored by the Soboba Foundation.

Late sleepers and families often enjoy the close up view that the Friday and Saturday evening balloon glow offers. This balloon spectacular starts at sunset when up to a dozen balloons inflate in the Wine Gardens, but remain tethered to the ground. As the colors fade from the evening sunset, the balloons begin their "glow" by simultaneously igniting the burners. Placed up against a black velvet sky, the luminous orbs of colorful canvas appear to dance to the beat of selected music. A crowd favorite, the balloon glow highlight occurs when the entire crowd shouts their plea of "glow" and the entire field alights with color.

Sponsored by Riverside County and the city of Temecula, the event is held annually at Lake Skinner Recreation area in Wine Country. For more information contact the Festival at

(951) 676-6713 or visit the website at www.tvbwf.com.

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