Vibrant hues filled the sky and the roar of fire could be heard at the 2025 Flint Hills Balloon Festival on Nov. 7-8 in Manhattan.
The colorful event featured four viewing opportunities. At 7 a.m. on Friday, eight balloons launched into the sky at Northwest Community Park. Later that night, visitors drove around Anneburg Park for the hot air balloon glow where over 20 balloons illuminated the night.
The festival was set to follow the same schedule on Saturday. However, balloons couldn’t be launched that morning due to high wind speeds and the drive-through was canceled that evening.
7 a.m. visitors could still walk around the park and view the balloons, which were inflated but kept on the ground.
Manhattan resident Randi Price attended the event on Saturday morning and said though she was disappointed not to see the balloons in the sky, deciding not to launch them was the safest choice.
“It was crazy when one of the balloons almost caught on fire,” Price said. “At the very front, there was the RV sales balloon, and it got really windy and it started blowing into one of the propane tanks where one of the balloons was candlesticking. The RV balloon fell on top of it and it almost popped.”
