Countywide : Ballooning Festival Will Weather Clouds

Despite a prediction of cloudy skies, organizers of Smith’s Festival of Ballooning over Tustin Ranch say this weekend’s festivities should go on as scheduled.

Although the clouds are expected to remain, there should be no rain or winds that would prevent about 80 colorful hot-air balloons, 20 which are shaped like parrots, dragons and other animals or things, from taking to the sky at 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. today and Sunday.

At 7 p.m., the Beach Boys and America perform, and on Sunday beginning at 4 p.m., an oldies concert will feature performances by ex-Supreme Mary Wilson, the Grass Roots, the Turtles and Gary Puckett. Festival tickets ($15 per day, $5 for ages 6 to 12, free for 5 and younger) include general admission seats to the concerts.

Other daily entertainment will include local pop and jazz bands, strolling mimes, jugglers musicians and puppeteers. The festival will include more than 100 exhibits, arts & crafts booths, live radio broadcasts, and promotions and games.

The festival site is at Jamboree and Tustin Ranch roads, north off the Santa Ana Freeway.

Festival-goers will see temperatures in the low to mid 80s, lowering to the mid-60s at night (the festival closes at 10:30 p.m.).

Forecasters say winds should be fairly light at 5 to 15 m.p.h. along the ground to 10 to 20 m.p.h. about 1,000 feet up.