Every year in late-July, on a clear day in Bend, you can look up in the sky and see the brilliant colors of hot air balloons floating against the crisp blueness of a summer morning dawn. The annual Balloons Over Bend returns July 24-26. The balloons launch each day just after sunrise from R.E. Jewell Elementary School in southeast Bend on Murphy Road. It’s free to watch the pilots prepare the balloons and lift off.
On Friday evening, the festival moves to the athletic field at Central Oregon Community College. Gates open at 5pm with an array of activities including two FlippenOut extreme trampoline shows, a Balloon Blast kids race and live music from the Tri-Cities Steel Drum Band, culminating with a balloon glow. The balloons are rolled out beginning at 8:30pm and lit up at sunset. FlippenOut is a nationally touring show with gravity-defying flips, wall tricks and high energy stunts at 5;30 and 6:30pm on July 24. The kid race is an obstacle course designed for ages 3 to 10. Participants will run, climb and compete while parents cheer them on. The Tri-Cities Steel Band Association features youth-powered steel drums and African marimbas. There will also be a marketplace with vendors selling art and other items. Tickets to the evening at COCC are $13 for kids 12 and under and $15 for adults. Discounts are given for buying multiple tickets in advance.
On Saturday, the evening balloon glow moves to American Legion Park in Redmond. That event, which also begins at 5pm, includes a Brewfest, food trucks, craft vendors, live music and the night glow at sunset. The Redmond festivities are free to attend.
The nation’s fascination with hot air balloons dates back more than two centuries. The first humans achieved flight by balloon nearly 150 years before airplanes. According to the Balloon Museum, the first hot air balloon was launched in 1783 by French scientist Jean-Francois Pilatre De Rozier. It carried three non-human passengers – a rooster, duck and sheep – remaining aloft for 15 minutes before a hard landing on the ground. A decade later gas-powered balloons dominated the flight experience. Hot air ballooning was revived in the 1950s when engineer Ed Yost redesigned the system to allow air-powered balloons to fly longer distances.
Lay It Out Events, which produces Balloons Over Bend, is owned by the same parent company as the Source.
Bend Balloon Launches
Fri-Sun July 24-26 Sunrise
R.E. Jewell Elementary School
20550 Murphy Rd,, Bend
balloonsoverbend.com/night-glow/
Free
Bend Balloon Glow
Fri, July 24 5-10pm
COCC Athletic Field
2600 NW College Way, Bend
balloonsoverbend.com/night-glow/
$13 children/ $15 adults
Redmond Balloon Glow
Sat, July 25 5-10pm
American Legion Park
850 SW Rimrock Way, Redmond
balloonsoverbend.com/night-glow/
Free
This article appears in the Source July 9, 2026.
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