Cirque may land at O.C. park

A bit more than a year from now, the hot-air balloon ride may not be all that’s going up, up and away at the Orange County Great Park. The park’s board of directors wants to make the Irvine site the Orange County home for Cirque du Soleil’s touring tent shows, envisioning a new acrobatic extravaganza from the Quebecois company every two or three years, starting in January 2010.

Steve Larsen, spokesman for the Great Park, says Cirque initiated the dialogue in August -- word having apparently made its way to Montreal about the park’s summer-long “Night Flights” dance-concert series.

Once approved by the Irvine City Council, negotiations with Cirque have to pan out.