The first SLPSTCC Balloon Festival was held last Saturday, and I believe it was a great success. We had 21 unique visitors, including a mix of balloonists, students, faculty, and faculty from other colleges.

Frequently, we had four or five balloons in the air at the same time, giving visitors rides around our two Islands. A number of helpful people made this possible, but in particular Jasper Dogpatch, president of the SL Balloon Club, rallied his own members and provided encouragement and support to attendees who decided to try piloting a balloon themselves.

I also was reminded what a small world we really live in. Balloon club member Zek Eros attended the event because it was an event supported by the club. Only after he arrived on our Island did he recognize the logo and realize it was for his alma mater! Zek obtained a degree from PSTCC and now works just up the road.

At the end of the event, we had the anticipated “balloon parade” around the two Islands, but it wound up with a different-than-anticipated flavor, including a couple of regular balloons along with a flying couch (piloted by Variessa Kenzo) and a magic carpet (piloted by Jasper Dogpatch). Finally, after festivities officially ended, Zek Eros gave remaining visitors a ride on his dirigible, which appeared huge to us, but was, he assured us, his “smaller one.”

The only downside was that we had enough avatars and balloons together at the same time to occasionally lead to some lag. Without scripts, a typical sim can support around 40 avatars, but the balloons themselves are fairly script-heavy and take more resources because of the use of physics, so, in effect, we were at capacity.

Cliché it might be, but it seems appropriate: a good time was had by all.

Our real life balloon festival comes up in less than a week, and our SL event led at least three people to say they intend to attend. I’m already looking forward to next year.

Note: I will post some photos here as soon as I work with them a little.