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Peter Lattimore's avatar

i have lived in albuquerque for a little over 40 years and we have our balloon fiesta just after the one in glens falls. ours might be better known, but there have been a number of occasions when i have bumped into someone who was from glens falls or just came from there, and they are surprised to meet a glens falls native living in albuquerque. one of my high school classmates from st. mary's - phil jackson - used to be very active in the festival, and i have met one or two people here that knew him. the balloon fiesta in albuquerque has moved, i think, three times since i arrived here. it used to be pretty close to our airport, so close that once in a while the airport had to close down because the wind was driving the balloons toward the airspace around the airport. there are a lot of people who live in albuquerque who know about glens falls because of the balloon festival there. it takes a lot, and i mean a lot, of people to plan, organize, and run the fiesta here. it is a huge economic benefit to the surrounding community and to the reputation of albuquerque though, and i can't believe warren county politicos are acting like this. oh, wait, yes i can believe it. the special shapes are a big deal here too. i can't imagine not having them.

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Susan Andrews's avatar

Thanks for your input, Peter! 🙋‍♀️

The fact that your wife Debbi trained to be a hot air balloon pilot adds to your insight and appreciation for all the expertise of labor and love required for successful Adirondack and Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festivals.

We need small and large Warren County businesses/elected officials/area residents to demand further funding to sustain the annual autumn income generated by this high value event!

FYI re: the added fee notice from the Post Star…I’ve received notice my added monthly fee is now $7.99 per month…for my digital and 3-day/week paper delivery from my mail man. This will now shorten my current annual contract by a month…and further increase my renewal cost…and no doubt lead to more folks cancelling their Post Star subscriptions. My 97 yr. old neighbor has been unable to reach a “live” newspaper staff member to discuss her options…

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Thanks for your perspective from your side of the country.

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Beth Shropshire's avatar

Sadly I no longer subscribe due to the changes that basically gutted the paper some time ago… However, I subscribe to a number of individuals on Substack

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Charlie Bucket's avatar

Lee Enterprises has had the slowest death in the history of newspapers!

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Sadly, some of the hedge funds outfits - Alden Capital - are worse.

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Dominic Tom's avatar

I actually asked my old contacts at the Times Union and Daily Gazette to speak with their management/ownership teams to consider making offers to buy the Post Star. I don't think that went too far because they commented how far the Post Star had sunk in business and public opinion. The Gazette over the years has hired lots of former PS reporters and editors (including me) because it was a starting point for everyone devoted to practicing real journalism and wanting to make it a career.

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Charlie Bucket's avatar

I think there’s a huge asking price for the PS. Too bad because new blood might save it.

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Beatriz Roman's avatar

Are the powers that be in Warren County so focused on continuing and protecting their conflicts of interests over the real contributions of large attractions such as the PROVEN draw of the Adirondack Balloon Fest? The recent failed attempts at attracting some of the winter events shows the short-sightedness that may be occurring when self-interest can cloud a vision of an event that has been beneficial to the county year after year. Support and improve conditions for this event as Donohue suggests. The public, local and from afar, really appreciates the beauty and the business benefits of being here during The Adirondack Balloon Fest.

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Harris Semegram's avatar

The Lake Placid Village Board announced, via Facebook, that the proposed hearing on this ordinance has been cancelled. It leaves unanswered questions about who proposed this and why was it brought up at this time. Do other towns/villages in the North Country have such laws on the books? Has a trend "spontaneously" started? Laws about assemblies are nothing new. But was this proposal an extension of a trend to more muscular policing of daily activities.

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mike parwana's avatar

Glens Falls has a law requiring a permit. I doubt many groups actually apply for a permit.

https://poststar.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_6b04f8f8-123b-55ec-acc8-f133826e6bd8.html

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Thanks for the update.

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Dominic Tom's avatar

Isn't Lake Placid in the 21st Congressional District? Gee, I wonder who could ever have suggested such a draconian ordinance? Anything to continue eroding real Americans' rights in favor of today's dictatorship.

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mike parwana's avatar

Recently I got a postcard in the mail indicating that I may be entitled to payment from a class action settlement from Lee Enterprises. I see now that I had until yesterday to submit a “timely and complete form” to get a payment estimated at $41.01. I suspect that this is due to the fact that at some point the Post Star just stopped delivering a paper which I had paid for and they continued to charge me for delivering a paper.

I’ve had this postcard for maybe 3-4 days, so I guess I was about as timely in responding as the Post Star was in delivering my paper. Looks like I won’t get my $41.01, but the lawyers will get their share. At least some local lawyers will have money to spend in the community…oh! wait! Philadelphia lawyers!

Well, maybe I’ll contact them and suggest they come to Warren county for the balloon festival.

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Susan Andrews's avatar

We still don’t know if our personal information was hacked into during that long lapse in the Lee Enterprise “power outage” in February… which they later admitted involved a hacking and affected many thousands of accounts…

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Ken Tingley's avatar

I sent in my paperwork after letting the postcard sit for a couple weeks.

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Susan Andrews's avatar

I never received that Lee Enterprise-Post Star post card…neither did my neighbor.

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Wendy Aronson's avatar

Once we get rid of Public Radio there won't be any more worrisome news about protests.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

I believe the stronger stations - WAMC in Albany has a robust fundraising effort - will be fine. I worry about stations like NCPR. I hope local listeners support them. They do great journalism that is important to the community.

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Bob's avatar
Jul 18Edited

Should NCPR not survive this federal funding loss, it wouldn’t surprise me if WAMC would expand to cover NCPR’s listening area, given the geographical reach of WAMC’s Northeast Public Radio network through New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

If this should happen, the loss of local programming would be hard felt, but at least service would still continue.

(I’m actually more worried about whether the public television stations in Plattsburgh and Watertown can survive the federal funding loss.)

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Ken Tingley's avatar

I think they will survive, but staffing levels will drop and with that the quality.

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mike parwana's avatar

I believe NCPR will survive this. I hope they do not have to cut any of their reporting because they are, IMO, a superior product to WAMC.

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Cherie Grey's avatar

Having run a charity event for 20 years, I can relate to many of the comments of the organizer. Particularly the aging volunteer base. Although you get better at the organization, it is still a huge job. I hope the Board can understand and financially support this event.

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Upstate Peep's avatar

Think of how much the $3 million that was flushed down the toilet by the Supervisors for Winter's Dream would have helped the Balloon Festival. The festival has a track record, a long history and is a proven heads in beds event. What magical spell or dirt does Lake George have on the supervisors to make them throw money at LG stuff over and over?

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Chriss's avatar

Over $1,000,000 occupancy tax monies given to Town of Johnsburg for sewer upgrades.

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Dominic Tom's avatar

The only saving grace with that "appropriation" is that NYS is kicking in more money as a way of paying for a sewage treatment plant designed to spur development of the town's business district, according to published reports, and to help boost Gore Mountain operations that are getting tens of millions of dollars for improvements to make it a bigger destination spot.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Wonder what attendance at Gore was last year.

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Dominic Tom's avatar

The balloon festival has ALWAYS been treated financially like the black sheep of the funding family, dating back to when the event started, which I remember vividly as an attendee. As a new reporter at the Post Star in 1981, I got to cover the weekend and even got a balloon ride to write a first-person article (BTW, my pilot won the Hound and Hare contest that morning). Meanwhile, certain events and tourism business owners have money and credit heaped on them, especially one large business in Lake George that is showered with big bucks and favoritism. I can compare the balloon festival to the annual airshow held at the Schenectady County airport years ago, for which I volunteered, which also got little local government assistance to help pay for top-notch acts such as Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. All those untold millions of dollars exchanging hands via Warren County tourism, especially Lake George, and elected officials still don't know how to treat most of its events and organizations.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

But aren’t we having milder winters?

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Christine Corlew's avatar

A new broadband service will bring prices down? Don’t hold your breath. Where I live we were promised that too…..the costs did not go down. They offer lower rates, but only for the first few months. But hope springs eternal.

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David Sowizdrzal's avatar

Please fully fund the balloon fest.. they gave $ millions to the defunct winter lights how.the festival is beautiful and has a proven track record.

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David Sowizdrzal's avatar

I switched to Times Union.

Post is so late with the news, including local sports. By time its in their paper , its 2-3 days later..

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Dominic Tom's avatar

And the Post Star is almost daily full of press/media releases that are copy/pasted verbatim, with mistakes, in first-person versions and poor grammar. In the good old days, reporters/editors would rewrite all the releases, remove all the flowery and self-promotion stuff, improve and correct grammar/spelling and convert it to a straightforward informational release.

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Mary Farrell's avatar

Hoping the Balloon Festival survives, it would be a big loss, most likely Warren county doesn't appreciate how much the residents do look forward to it, even if it's just spotting one in the sky. I can't imagine it's not bringing revenue. Do better Warren County, don't disrespect Walters's legacy

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Another of the very unique events that are region so much fun to visit.

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Ethel Weeks's avatar

No special shapes???

That would be a disaster.

Last year, we hosted friends who came to attend the balloon festival from Long Island. One of them, a Swiss physician who had taken a balloon ride over the Alps, praised the event as a wonderful experience. They loved the special shapes and took lots of pictures. During their stay, we dined locally every day. What a boost to the local economy.

Browsing through the Warren County website, the county doesn't seem to have an Economic Development Committee to oversee this and other local crowd pleasing, and tourism promoting economic opportunities.

The county could support Mr. Donahue's asks directly, except studying the obvious. Parking should be handled by a professional service, and families would likely pay a per person fee to attend the event. For all the good reasons laid out by Ken and others on this thread, the Adirondack Balloon Festival should probably become a Warren County sponsored event.

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Dominic Tom's avatar

Sorry, and not being snarky, but converting the balloon festival into a completely county-government sponsored event would be a death knell considering how government of all levels operate. Leave these events in private hands with proper, suitable financial assistance from local governments that benefit.

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Ethel Weeks's avatar

I was suggesting to replace current sponsorship/partial support/etc from town to county, not taking over the event. So, I agree with you.

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Dominic Tom's avatar

Oops! My bad.

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Maggie's avatar

This is what the BBBill demands for the future of our National Forests & Public Lands!

This is the first time I have seen the actual "terms" of this bill. There has been much said about cutting of medical benefits, SNAP benefits etc. But THIS is what our elected politicians want to do to our Wild Lands and our Wildlife! Its a long read, but I think very worthwhile.

https://morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/they-gutted-public-lands-in-the-reconciliation

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