At past festivals the setting up and preparation of the balloons usually took quite a while to complete. I'd have no idea as to why but I can only guess that perhaps it was due to the winds and such. This year of 2007 it all happened so very rapidly. Yours truly took a look at a site which provides historical weather data based on date and location. What I'd found was how on this day the wind speed was 3 mph / 5 km/h (NNE). I can seriously verify that their claims for the high humidity that day was on target: Max: 96 percent with a max temperature of 83 degrees.
But the darndest thing his how they also say that it rained on that day, which it did not. Although all the inclement weather forecasts really had me close to cancelling my trip.

The power which comes out of these propane tanks must be really something. What's even more special are the folks who stand there guiding the balloon upright. I'll tell ya'. I was about 5 feet away with my camera and even at that distance it gets awfully hot. Kudos to these people who get the job done.

Here's a set of photographs showing the stages of a takeoff. You'll see people holding down the gondola as they waited for the go-ahead from the man in charge. Actually, he was waiting for the announcer clear across the other side of the field to finish speaking so's to time it all just right.

Sing along now:
Up, Up and Away in my beautiful, my beautiful Balloon!

To back up my claim of how wonderful this mass ascension was. You can see how this balloon is touching that other one there on the upper left hand corner of the frame.