LONGVIEW \u2013 The U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championship will be coming to Longview beginning in 2012 and continuing through 2014. The announcement was made by the Balloon Federation of America\u2019s Hot Air Competition Division. A news release from the organization said Longview was selected from a field of four that had expressed interest in the host role of this prestigious event. The three-year agreement was ratified by both organizations earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe selection of Longview and the GTBR took a great deal of dedicated work by the staffs of both organizations,\u201d said Paul Petrehn, Chairman of the BFA HACD, \u201cbut we knew going in to expect an excellent bid package from Dr. Bill Bussey and the people of Longview. The GTBR enjoys an outstanding reputation as a top-flight competition event. The opportunity to couple these two events was not to be missed,\u201d added Petrehn. \u201cBoth pilots and spectators alike will be treated to an unprecedented showing of the very best competition our sport has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
For spectators in East Texas, the BFA U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championship presented by Curves and the Great Texas Balloon Race will mean more balloons flying overhead for longer than ever before. A total of 70 or more balloons will color the summer skies above Longview for an entire week, beginning on Monday morning and continuing through the following Sunday. Those pilots will be competing for a total prize purse of $50,000 and the opportunity to go on to represent the U.S. in World Champion competition. The dates for the 2012 event are July 23 \u2013 29th.<\/p>\n
Longview\u2019s first balloonist and founder of the Great Texas Balloon Race, Dr. Bill Bussey says he can\u2019t wait. \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled with the decision of the BFA on a number of levels,\u201d said Bussey. \u201cIt validates the many years of hard work of the countless volunteers who have strived to build the Great Texas Balloon Race into one of the best events in the country. This opportunity also allows us to bring to the citizens of Longview and East Texas an even bigger and better show than ever before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course none of it would be possible without the unparalleled sponsorship of the many fine businesses and service organizations, like our title sponsor Curves International, that support ballooning and the Great Texas Balloon Race year in and year out. It\u2019s like the Mercury astronauts used to say, \u2018No bucks. No Buck Rogers,\u2019\u201d added Bussey. \u201cThis year marks the 33rd Annual Great Texas Balloon Race and that longevity is testament to the pride of community and quality of life that we enjoy here in Longview and throughout East Texas,\u201d Bussey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONGVIEW \u2013 The U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championship will be coming to Longview beginning in 2012 and continuing through 2014. The announcement was made by the Balloon Federation of America\u2019s Hot Air Competition Division. A news release from the organization said Longview was selected from a field of four that had expressed interest in … Continue reading National Hot Air Balloon Championship Comes to Longview<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 14:30:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75994"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76354,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75994\/revisions\/76354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}