BILLINGS – A fourth-generation balloon pilot helped light up Amend Park for a candlestick glow event, a part of the Big Sky Balloon Rally.
Twenty-three-year-old Sami Elkins from Helena has been around hot air balloons her whole life.
Watch to see the candlestick glow:
“I'm super comfortable around balloons. Probably my first flight, I could just see through like the foot holds, so that's where you like get into the basket,” she said.
She learned the skills from her father, Justin Elkins. He has been involved in balloon flying for 45 years.
“My grandfather is a balloon pilot, my father is a balloon pilot, myself, and my daughter, who's here with me now, is training to be a balloon pilot. So yeah, it's been the family business,” he said.
For Sami, flying balloons is not just a tradition. For her, it’s events like these that help her connect with her community.
“It's been really just the people for me. Like, we come out to these things, and there’s all these pilots. They're such like tight-knit community, and you feel like a family in all of this, which I mean you get family from all over the world,” she said.
The glow was supposed to include the balloons; however, pilots deemed the windy conditions too unsafe for a balloon glow.
“We can't stay in a static area for too long because these blooms are quite big. So, it's really like a hazard, especially with so many people around,” Sami said.
She and her father created a candlestick effect, using the burners of the hot air balloon to create a flame, excluding the balloon, or “envelope”.
“A candlestick is where we do not attach the envelope, which is what is the problem in the wind. And we'll just shoot off our flame off the top of our burner, which is about 12 feet tall,” Justin said.
While the balloons were absent, thousands of people from the community still came together to enjoy the scene, traded special pilot cards and made memories.
