Gallery: Up Up and Away Balloon Festival

As the sun rises Friday, several balloons take to the sky. [Photo: Sara Withrow]

The Up Up & Away Florida Hot Air Balloon Festival, the largest hot air balloon festival in the state of Florida, is taking place this weekend in Lakeland on the Sun ‘n Fun Expo Campus. FLYING was there for the kickoff on Friday morning. Here's a little bit of what we saw.

Katie and Eric Brown and Callahan Brown (child), age 4, of Re-Spectra Balloons. [Photo: Sara Withrow]

[Photo: Sara Withrow]

Wally Lewis gets ready to take a very special birthday ride. [Photo: Sara Withrow]

Wally Lewis and Judy Rasberry took a ride Friday to celebrate Wally's 70th birthday. [Photo: Sara Withrow]

[Photo: Sara Withrow]

balloon festival Florida Gallery

Sara WithrowAuthor

Sara is the former copy chief at FLYING. She fell in love with aviation over a decade of working as editor of Lift, the flagship magazine for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She holds a M.S. in Mass Communication and is passionate about authentic storytelling—and making sure that “every I is dotted and every T is crossed.” Follow Sara on Twitter @sarawithrow.