Metamora, Michigan, it’s a small town in Lapeer County. One time a year the town grows exponentially for a couple days. This is because of their Metamora Country Days and Hot Air Balloon Festival that takes place every August. This festival has a whole lot more than just hot air balloons going on. However, that is the main reason that I have been going back year after year. The second reason is for the fish dinners that the Metamora Lions put on. They also offer more to eat than just the fried fish dinners, but that is my favorite.
Let me tell you about how I started out going to this awesome festival so many years ago. I was living in Metamora and as with many small towns, if there’s a festival going on in town, that’s where you want to be. The festival takes place the 4th weekend in August and when I was walking in the Crim Festival of Races in Flint, Michigan it would conflict for the parade on Saturday and how late I stayed at the festival on Friday. Most years that I was not in Flint for the races I was at the parade and I was taking pictures of the Elf Khurafeh Shriners’ Motorcycle Drill Team while they were driving in the parade. This was an easier parade to do that with, but I’ll cover that in another post.
So, what all do you do at a country days & hot air balloon festival? Well, aside from the obvious there are a lot of things to do. There are the truck and tractor pulls out behind the Lions hall, where you should bring your ear plugs to sit and watch them. For those that like a little bit of adventure, there are monster truck and helicopter rides. Of course, there are bouncy activities for the little kids. Inside the Lions Hall there is an arts & crafts show, be sure to pick up some locally made maple syrup from Elling Tree Farm out of Elba. In the area covered area outside the Lions Hall is where the food is and places to sit and eat. Also, I can’t forget the chicken poop fundraiser. This is where they have a chicken pen that the bottom is sectioned off like a bingo card with just numbers on it. They sell spots to patrons and once all the spots are sold they place the chicken in the pen and whatever spot the chicken poops on is who the winner is.
Out in the field way behind the Lions Hall is where the balloons go up. This year they had bands playing out there for entertainment, plus the Masons have their ice cream sundaes and there was also pizza and BBQ available for purchase. Each time the balloons are scheduled to go up there is a pilots’ meeting. This is where they determine if the balloons will go up or not. I checked the weather for the area ahead of time and was pretty confident that they would go up. Sure enough, this year they went up. The great thing about this balloon festival is that they allow the public right up by the balloons, so I have been able to get great pictures and videos throughout the years.
Downtown Metamora has a variety of activities going on as well. There’s a car show, a vendor tent, the Masons also sell their ice cream sundaes down in the park (that’s before the field opens for the balloons), this year there was also a Civil War encampment and there are food vendors.
This small town brings in thousands of people that fill the parking spaces, even those that are specially created just for the event. In addition to the parking in town, there are also shuttles from the local high school and from a church.
Next year, be sure to put this on your activities list for August and when you come into town, bring your patience and have some fun!
