Ballooning Now!

You can be part of history in 2020 when the New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning in Association with PNC Bank celebrates its 38th anniversary, July 24 - 26 at Solberg Airport in Readington, NJ.

The Festival wasn’t a festival when it started. Flamboyant millionaire adventurer Malcolm Forbes, newspaper publisher Tom Curley, Bill Lewis and friends brought 10 balloons to a local truck stop on Route 78 as a weekend gathering of balloon enthusiasts in 1983.

Lewis grew that first get-together into an annual festival, attracting 40 balloons and 40,000 people annually over a 10-year period and moving it to Solberg Airport. Looking to take what had become the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning to the next level, he sold the event to Howard Freeman and John Korff in 1993, who were looking for a showcase event to build around the Garden State.

Experts in promoting live events, they brought in more balloons and more attractions with an emphasis on affordable family entertainment. Live concerts were added.

Today, the 38th annual New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning in Association with PNC Bank is the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America. It is truly a must on anyone’s summer list of things to do --- more than 100 sport and special