Lewiston, Maine, WILL Have a Hot Air Balloon Festival After All

It's not the Great Falls Balloon Festival. It's the L/A Balloon Festival, and it's on!

It's a little confusing, so let's break it down. Organizers of the Great Falls Balloon Festival said the event would not be happening this year. According to a Facebook post, they were not confident they could pull it off because of "a series of challenges and unforeseen circumstances," including "logistical issues, safety concerns, and other unexpected factors beyond our control."

Lewiston offered to help, but they declined, and said they just couldn't pull off what would have been the 30th Great Falls Balloon Festival.

That's when the cities of Lewiston and Auburn announced they WILL be organizing a similar event for this August. They made the announcement on the city of Lewiston website.

The L/A Balloon Festival, scheduled for August 16-18, 2024, carries on the annual tradition of the popular Great Falls Balloon Festival. This year will be the 30th-anniversary celebration.

This is great news for the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, Maine!

The festival isn't just an amazing weekend for the cities of the Androscoggin. It's also a huge economic boost. The money generated from the festival-goers doesn't just benefit the cities and businesses, but also several non-profits, as it's one of their biggest fundraisers. News Center Maine talked to Nate Libby, the assistant director of economic and community development for Lewiston. He said that this three-day event has thousands of people pouring into the area.

Each year of the festival in the last several years, over 100,000 folks have come to Lewiston-Auburn to participate. Collectively, folks spend about $2 million over those three days, participating in events, shopping at our shops, eating at our restaurants, staying at our hotels.

Thank you, Lewiston and Auburn, for saving the day (well, for saving the three-day festival that we love!).