It isn’t over yet. Anyone able to get to Railroad Park in Lewiston by 6 this morning will still be able to catch a balloon flight, or two, or 10.

Sunday’s flying was so spectacular that nearly a dozen balloon pilots were staying in the region for one final liftoff this morning, said Walter Crites. He’s the balloon meister – the guy who makes the calls as to whether there’ll be a flight or not – for the Great Falls Balloon Festival.

“From a balloonist’s perspective, we did very well,” Crites said Sunday night of the three-day festival that was to have concluded Sunday evening.

While Saturday was a washout, he said launching four out of six possible flights was superb. Besides the two launches Sunday, Friday’s morning launch went off without a hitch and a few balloons took to the dampening sky Friday evening.

With a bonus launch Monday morning, that would make a total of five lift-offs linked to this year’s festival.

“I’ve been to multi-day festivals where they haven’t been able to get a launch in at all,” Crites said, “so for us to get four out of six, we did very well.”

Between 25 and 30 balloons lifted off Sunday morning with picture-perfect conditions, Crites said. By Sunday evening, while some crews had packed up their balloons and gear and headed out of the city, “we still had 25 at the festival, and 20 flew,” Crites said.

Among those making flights Sunday were popular shaped balloons, including one resembling a clown, another called the Octopus’ Garden and a third crowd-pleaser, the Purple People Eater.

A big crowd’

Crites, who said he had a chance to fly over the festival site Sunday morning and again Sunday afternoon, wouldn’t venture to estimate the number of people who turned out for it Sunday. The crowd was sizable, though.

“We had a big crowd for a Sunday,” he said. “The festival grounds were pretty well packed to capacity.”

The morning showing “was as big or bigger than I’ve seen for a morning launch,” Crites added, and the evening crowds seemed to just keep growing as darkness neared.

Between morning and evening launches Sunday, Crites said, the people attending the festival represented a “very good size crowd. It may be one of the biggest ever.”

Festival directors kept the show going as late as possible, in part to help charities that sell food and souvenirs recoup some of the money lost to sales in Saturday’s rain.

Michelle Rouleau, the festival board’s treasurer, was still tallying up receipts and making payments late Sunday night.

She said that while Saturday was a wash-out, “We may be making up for it” on Sunday.

Rouleau said the festival didn’t take out rain insurance that might have offset Saturday’s losses. “We take that hit,” she said, and hope that Sunday sales turn out as well they seemed to be going.

One hot seller, said Crites, were balloon flights themselves. He said the owners of balloons entered into the festival reported selling between 200 and 300 rides. Most cost $175 for two people to climb into a basket and ride the wind for an hour or so.

The flights help to pay for the freight for balloon owners and pilots, and helps to keep them coming back to the Twin Cities for the festival year after year.

“The balloon crews and pilots had a blast,” said Crites. “They see the festival as an extraordinary success.”