Welcome to the Strathaven Balloon Festival website

The 2013 Strathaven Balloon Festival takes place on the weekend of August 23 - 25 in Strathaven's
John Hastie Park. The venue is by courtesy of South Lanarkshire Council.

The annual festival is a spectacular, international hot air ballooning event; the only one of its kind in Scotland and one of the largest in the UK. Unlike many balloon gatherings, we combine the marvellous sight of hot air balloons, launching and in flight (weather permitting), with our Saturday and Sunday Fun Days and our magnificent Saturday Evening Glow, so that there's something for all the family to enjoy in Strathaven. And no expensive admission charges to pay. Our Souvenir programme, on sale in local shops and at the Festival, says it all!

The Strathaven Balloon Festival is organised by a group of local volunteers in our spare time - work on next year's Festival will begin as soon as this year's is over! We raise thousands of pounds to make our Festival happen and we value the huge support we receive from local businesses. We are also very grateful to South Lanarkshire Council, whose Enterprise Resources staff help us to access funding from a variety of sources, including the European Union.

Why did we begin, all those years ago, in 1999? Well, Strathaven is a traditional country town, which offers a large and distinctive range of shopping and services but, like many other small communities, it is under pressure from the gigantic shopping malls elsewhere. We wanted to help Strathaven's economy by encouraging folk into our town - and we still do! YOU (and your family and friends) help to keep the heart of Strathaven beating.

Below is a movie clip, by John Whyte, of balloons flying over Strathaven in 2008

Click the play button to see them soar

You can turn off the music by clicking the mute button on
the video player or use the slider to adjust volume