On the Town: Hot air balloons to light up at FireLake Fireflight Fest

Look up this weekend when the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s annual hot air balloon festival fills Shawnee’s skies with color and art.

The FireLake Fireflight Balloon Fest will be Friday and Saturday [a9-10] in Shawnee’s Raymond Peltier Park,1702 S Gordon Cooper Drive. The free and family-friendly festival includes a 5k race, kids’ carnival rides, a vendor market and live music, a news release noted. Visitors can also enjoy tethered hot air balloon rides beginning at 7 p.m. both days at $20 per person.

Country music artist Cam Allen will headline the live performances, with his stage time schooled at 9 p.m. on Saturday, the news release stated. The group hasbeen on tour with Dwight Yoakam and recently released a new single, “Kick Me Out.”Other featured artists include Levi Platero on Friday night and Adam Aguilar and Midnight South on Saturday night.

Vendors will sell local crafts, services and food, and the Outdoor Nation Expo, which includes fishing and hunting demonstrations, will take place in the nearby FireLake Arena

For a full schedule and information, go to firelakeballoonfest.com or download the festival’s mobile apps from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store.

Oklahoma at the Olympics

Congratulations to Evy Leibfarth, who won a bronze medal in the women’s canoe singles event at the Olympic Games in Paris last week. The 20-year-old canoe slalom athlete from North Carolina qualified for the Olympics during the Olympic Trials hosted by RIVERSPORT OKC earlier this year.

RIVERSPORT sent a press release about her win, and I know there are other Olympic hopefuls with Oklahoma ties including ties to RIVERSPORT competing in the Olympics. These events are fun to watch, especially knowing that Oklahoma City is expected to host two Summer Olympic Games in 2028 canoe slalom at the Oklahoma River and softball at the Women’s College due to a partnership with the host city of Los Angeles.

The details are not yet fully ironed out, but Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt is currently posting on social media as a spectator at the current Games in Paris with the hashtag #LA28 as those plans move forward.

RIVERSPORT OKC is already a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic training site for rowing and canoe/kayak. It has hosted numerous national and international canoe/kayak race events over the years, the news release noted. In 2025 it will host the ICF Canoe Freestyle World Cup and the ICF Canoe Slalom and Sprint Super Cups. In 2026, it will host the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.

Mike Knopp, RIVERSPORT’s executive director, praised Leibfarth’s win in the news release and noted how many medals she has won at RIVERSPORT over the years in Olympic trials and national championships.

“It’s amazing to see her finding such success on the world’s biggest stage- all while still being so young,” Knopp stated in the release. “It’s very exciting to see her positioned to build so much excitement for the sport as we begin to focus on LA ’28!”

Have an idea, item or event for On the Town? Email lillie.beth@yahoo.com.

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