Photo gallery: Hot air balloons attack East Plano

by Alex Bentley

My wife and I have attended the Plano Balloon Festival at Oak Point Park since we moved to the area, something that has its highs (proximity to balloons taking off) and lows (the crowds). We decided against going this year for various reasons; little did we realize that the balloon festival would be coming to us.

Sometime around 7 p.m, we heard what sounded like racing engines being repeatedly fired. After about the fourth or fifth time, we went outside to investigate only to be greeted with the sight of multiple balloons floating low over our neighborhood. And when I say low, I mean low -- it was obvious that they were all coming in for a landing. This was alarming since there seemed to be few, if any, places in our area that would lend themselves to such an event.

As it turns out, several balloons were able to find small grassy spots wedged between high wires and an apartment complex -- not exactly ideal in my estimation, but they made it work. Even more harrowing was the landing spot the My27 balloon chose -- the front yard of a house on 15th Street. It was unclear if these landings were completely unorthodox or standard operating procedure for the balloon festival, but they certainly caused a stir in East Plano.