7th Annual Balloon Festival

WHERE? Foley, Alabama · find us on the map

As I discovered from talking with my Flickr friend, Brody, not all hot air balloon festivals are equal or the same. We waited quite a long time today before any balloons showed up. If you had seen the dark storm clouds in the sky, you would not have wondered why. For awhile, we thought they would not show up at all. And, when they did, the sun still was not getting though on a regular basis, so not many photos of them were worth keeping.

See our photos on flickr:

Balloon Festival 2011

To see some really professional photos taken on various days of the festival, see Brody J's photos on flickr:

Foley Balloon Fest 2011

The website for the festival is very informative, and we encourage you to visit it not only for information about this year's festival but also some facts about upcoming balloon festivals.

Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival

2nd Annual Bald Eagle Bash

WHEN? Saturday · June 4, 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.

The Weeks Bay Foundation hosted the Bald Eagle Bash again this year, and the party was held at the waterfront Tonsmeire Weeks Bay Resource Center (old Lulu’s location) at the Fish River Bridge on U.S. Highway 98 in Fairhope.

The unique taste of Alabama Wild Shrimp was prepared by these great restaurants under the resource center’s building:
Beckwith Camp and Conference Center
Big Daddy's Grill
Bimini Bob's
Blue Marlin Restaurant
Bluegill Restaurant
Fly Creek Café
Islamorada Fish Company
Jesse's Restaurant
Les Roux
LuLu's at Homeport Marina
Tamara's Downtown
The Tin Top Restaurant and Oyster Bar
Wintzell's Oyster House

Over 900 people attend this party with great food, great music by Locust Fork Band, and, best of all, a great cause for preservation of "one of the most beautiful and diverse environments on planet earth ... in Baldwin County" (Phil Norris in THE PELICAN POST, Spring 2011).

Title sponsors for this year's event were BBVA Compass and the Coastal Land Trust. Other sponsors are shown on a sign among the photos from the event, which may be viewed on Weeks Bay Foundation's Facebook.