The Ashland Balloonfest takes place in Freer Field where there are food and merchant vendors, children’s activities, live music and a large amount of hot air balloons that come together for take off and great balloon glow.
2026 DATE: June 25-28, 2026
Location: Freer Field
1264 Center Street
Ashland, OH 44805
Website: https://ashlandballoonfest.com
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This post documents my experience on June 28, 2024.
I’ve also visited this festival in 2010, which you can read about HERE.
The Ashland Balloonfest takes place on Freer Field…
…where there is a large area for visitors to set up their chairs and blankets for the evening events.
As live music entertains the crowds during the day (Soul Juice)…
…kids are able to take advantage of bounce houses…
…pony rides, bubble soccer…
…balloon animals, face painting…
…and a balloon prize game.
A vendor village could be found in the back…
…and vendor tables were diverse, representing local churches and medical professionals…
…traveling home gym/personal trainer services…
…and products that ranged from non-lethal self defense pistols to cool air chairs…
…including jewelry, colorful creatures…
…local honey, sports team signs…
…a bunch of clothing and accessories…
…balloonfest shirts…
…a balloonfest coffee blend…
…as well as everything balloons, thanks to the Montgolfier Balloon Gift Shoppe.
For those who had already found their spot and done their shopping…
…there were two lines of food trucks and stands waiting for them…
…serving tornado potatoes, fresh cut fries…
…pizza, BBQ…
…Italian sausage, Indian bread…
…and a variety of sweet treats.
Food lines picked up right before the balloon lift off…
…but I was able to get a fried bologna sandwich just before…
…the inflating began…
…with balloons starting to take off one after the other.
You can watch a nice portion of the lift off here.
Eventually, all of them would inflate…
…drifting over the crowd…
…and leave us behind as we watched in wonder.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: They did return for the balloon glow later that night.