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Published February 04, 2009, 12:00 AM

Hot Air Affair 20-year celebration


Hot-air balloons stand ready for lift-off from the grounds of E.P. Rock Elementary School at about 7:45 a.m. Sunday. Twenty-nine balloons launched, according to Evy Nerbonne, one of the organizers of the 20th annual Hudson Hot Air Affair. Photo by Randy Hanson

  • Hot-air balloons stand ready for lift-off from the grounds of E.P. Rock Elementary School at about 7:45 a.m. Sunday. Twenty-nine balloons launched, according to Evy Nerbonne, one of the organizers of the 20th annual Hudson Hot Air Affair. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • Spectators watch a hot-air balloon lift off from the grounds of E.P. Rock Elementary School on Sunday morning. The launch crowd was the biggest ever, according to event organizer Evy Nerbonne. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • Evy Nerbonne was on the ground floor of developing Hudson’s Hot Air Affair 20 years ago and has been serving on the committee ever since.
  • A re-enactment of a smoke balloon launch took place during the 1998 Hot Air Affair and carried a Civil War theme. Pete Krieg of Indianapolis conducted the demonstration.
  • Members of the Hot Air Affair committee in 1991 included a very young Art Doyle, front and center, surrounded by, from left, Melva Radtke, Carla Timmerman, Christine Quinn, Cindy Berglund, Evonne Jordan, and Renea Hanson.
  • Original Hot Air Affair committee member John Knutson, with sombrero, has also been the annual announcer for the smooshboard competition since the event’s inaugural in the early 90s.
  • Hudsonite Roy Sjoberg became Miss Informed as one of the Hot Air Affair queens during the 1999 festivities.
  • “Rubber Duckie,” piloted by Bob O’Brien of Waupaca, rises above the M & I Bank balloon. “Rubber Duckie” was sponsored by the Kinziegreen Marketing Group of Wausau and Hudson.<br /><br />Photo by Randy Hanson
  • “Biddles” stands 105 feet tall when inflated. He remained tethered at the launch grounds Sunday morning. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • Wiederkehr Balloons pilot Larry Nickolay, left, lifts off with Bruce Nerby, Lindsey Knutson and Star-Observer photographer Margaret Ontl (hidden) on board. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • Darci Strutt of North Hudson, right, Klondike Kate 2009 of the St. Paul Winter Carnival, poses with Britt Wells, Klondike Kate 2006, before lifting off with Stillwater Balloons pilot Steve Jacobs. Five Kates, in all, flew in Jacobs’ 12-passenger balloon. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • Hot Air Affair launch director Evonne Jordan of Las Vegas and announcer Chris Olson watch the last balloons to fly fade into the distance. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • Five-year-old Maya Susa of Hudson photographs a lift-off with a toy camera from a perch on her father’s shoulders. Jon Susa is also holding his 7-month-old son, Mark. Susa’s wife, Gusty, and 2-year-old daughter, Melanie, were nearby. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • It was too windy Saturday night for balloon pilots to hold the moon glow, but they lit up the night with a “field of fire.” According to event organizer Evy Nerbonne, the pilots collectively burned 700 gallons of propane. A big crowd came to watch. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • The first Hot Air Affair was held Feb. 2-3, 1990, and many of the same events are still on the schedule 20 years later.
  • Aeriel view of balloon launching grounds. Photo by Margaret Ontl
  • Thirty balloons launched on Sunday morning to participate in the Hare and Hound Race. In the above photos, a number of balloons are closing in on the target while others are landing, their chase vehicles lined up along the road. Photo by Margaret Ontl
  • Balloon pilot Larry Nickolay mans the burners in a balloon sponsored by Resco. The balloon is owned by Wiederkehr Balloons. Photo by Margaret Ontl
  • Draping over a pine tree is not the best way for a balloon to land, but the homeowner brought out a ladder so the crew could gently remove the envelope from the tree. Photo by Margaret Ontl
  • Mild weather brought a huge crowd out to Friday’s Torchlight Parade that was part of the Hudson Hot Air Affair. Some came all the way from California, such as Scott and Cali Bredan, 3, who took it in for the first time by waving to passersby. Photo by Joe Winter
  • Taking the honors in the annual smooshboard competition held as part of the Hudson Hot Air Affair are, from left, Aaron Hilke, Elizabeth Hilke, Kimberlee Hilke and Ryan Hilke. Photo by Margaret A. Ontl
  • From the left, competing for the first time, are Jenna Evenson, Rachelle Evenson, Kelsey Heinemann and Lindsey Knutson. Photo by Margaret Ontl
  • Sara Taylor, a Hudson resident and Bayport, Minn., city employee, enjoys her first hot-air balloon ride. She was aboard Thursday’s media flight with Stillwater Balloons. Photo by Randy Hanson
  • Here’s Hudson looking down 1,200 feet from a hot-air balloon. Reporter Randy Hanson took a ride with Stillwater Balloons pilot Steve Jacobs on Thursday afternoon and took this photo. Hudson High School is in the bottom right of the frame, with Lake Mallalieu above it. In the distance is the 789-foot-tall King power plant smoke stack at Bayport, Minn. Photo by Randy Hanson