The Vernon Winter Carnival will be making do without balloons in its 60th year.
The British Columbia Hot Air Balloon Association (BCBA) has announced that its 2020 Hot Air Balloon Festival and Hot Air Balloon Glow have been cancelled due to a lack of funds and volunteers.
“We at the BCBA are sad to announce that the Vernon Hot Air Balloon Festival has been cancelled,” the association said on Facebook Saturday morning.
“All donations will be carried over in the hopes of doing the event again next year.”
The association says it had around 13 balloons planned for the events that were scheduled for Feb. 7-9.
“We would like to take this time to thank all those that have supported us for this year festival and those before it,” Lori Carey of the BCBA said in a press release. “We have attained over $13,000 gift in kind donations from the local business, but unfortunately our cash donations were not met.”
BCBA said it plans to hold fundraising events throughout 2020 to meet the funding amount needed to hold the events next year.
“We ask the public to follow us on our web page and/or Facebook page and come out to our fundraisers. To help us determine if this festival is still a community favorite please show us your support by post your past hot air balloon pictures on our Instagram page, using #bcballooning or facebook.”
Those wishing to volunteer or donate can email bcballooning@gmail.com.
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