Eyes to Skies offers more balloons, family focus

In many sports, commentators help fans understand what is happening both on and off the field.

Among them, surprisingly, is ballooning.

“It would be like watching a NASCAR race or a football game with no announcers,” said Glen Moyer, who has been the Lisle Eyes to the Skies Festival balloon announcer for more than 10 years.

As the balloons launch Friday, July 1, at the annual festival, Moyer not only will explain how they fly but also will give background information about the various pilots, all while incorporating music into his performance.

“It’s really beautiful,” Moyer said of ballooning events that lack announcers. “But if you don’t know anything about balloons, you’re certainly not going to go away knowing anything.”

The 2011 Eyes to the Skies festival in Lisle Community Park, off Route 53 and Short Street, brings the community together under a sky scattered with majestic hot air balloons.

“This festival is really for the people of Lisle,” Eyes to the Skies Balloonmeister Guy Gauthier said. “We have the evening put together so that there’s something for the whole family.”

Moyer, the editor of Ballooning Magazine since 2001, got his first job as a balloon announcer in 1985 at a balloon race in Fort Worth, Tex., and found that the position suited his many skills.

“It sort of came together and mixed my blossoming love for ballooning with my years of experience as a radio and television broadcaster,” Moyer said. “I blended it together and created my own type of style, with music as a backdrop for the balloons.”

Since he began announcing for balloon races in 1985, Moyer, a Louisiana resident, has been hired by events across the country, including the Eyes to the Skies festival.

“It was amazing the amount of people that came up to me and told me how much more they appreciated the balloons when they knew what was and wasn’t happening,” Moyer said. “It made me feel right away that I was really making a contribution to their enjoyment of the event.”

If weather permits, more than 20 balloons are scheduled to launch at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday, July 1-3, with balloon glows, an evening ballooning event, lighting up the sky at 8 p.m. nightly.

Gauthier encourages festival-goers to brave the early launch times to watch the balloons rise with the sun, as there is no admission fee for Eyes to the Skies in the morning.

For those who get dizzy thinking about heights, Eyes to the Skies offers myriad other exciting activities, including a five-day carnival beginning Wednesday, June 29, as well as a plethora of craft fair vendors, 21 musical performances on two stages and a fireworks display each evening.

“We’re really looking forward to just a nice festival,” said Roger Leone, two-time festival chairman.

With a showing of roughly 40,000 visitors each day over the last few years, an increased advertising budget bodes well for the festival to reach the 45,000 mark, Leone said of organizers’ hopes to attract more families to the event.

“Maybe even 50,000 if we have good weather, which we hope we do,” Leone said.

While festival-goers browse crafters’ wares or enjoy carnival rides, they also can treat their ears to the immense musical variety Eyes to the Skies offers.

“They’re all locally based and have their own followings,” Leone said of the festival’s musical entertainment.

Among the classic rock groups and disco tribute bands are Beatles impersonators American English, scheduled to play at 8 p.m. Friday, July 1.

“They’re great at what they do,” Leone said. “There’ll probably be 15,000 on the hillside that night and they’ll get them rocking.”

The main stage can accommodate roughly 10,000 spectators along the hillside, while a smaller second stage will be located adjacent the food courts.

While at Eyes to the Skies, individuals can snack on items from more than 30 eclectic food vendors.

From the Melting Pot, a booth specializing in different types of fondue, to the Sugar Magnolia Baking Company, the event’s two food courts are sure to offer something to tickle the taste buds of every fair enthusiast.

As the festival aims to create a more family-oriented event, the 2011 Eyes to the Skies will feature an expanded children’s area with special attractions like The All-American Lumberjacks Show, Princess and Pirate Parties hosted by Ruth Princess, and an interactive Shedd Aquarium area.

“We’ve tried to make it a little more family friendly,” Leone said. “That’s what we’re all about.”