Town revisit: Plainville

Last year, we tried to go to the Plainville Balloon Festival. We got up at 4 a.m. to see the early morning balloon launch. The day before there was quite a bit of rain, so sadly it was called off. To the left was our early morning view in 2009 before it was torn down.

This year, we decided to go the first night. That didn't go much better for us. The festival went on as scheduled but we sat in traffic for 3 hours total. Finally, we got parked and then re-parked by teenagers that really needed some adult help with that task.

Then we stood in the porta potty line that reached halfway across the park. There were 5 portable bathrooms. The festival is put on by the Plainville Fire Department and they estimate that 20,000 people attended in 2008. And this year was much bigger. So you can imagine that line moved really slowly.

There was only one balloon and that was taken down before we got out of the line, so there wasn't anything left for us to do but wait for the fireworks. Those were nice, and we heard the next day was great.

While we understood this was a small town putting on a typical small New England carnival--and having the ambition to do a bit more--it just hasn't worked out for us two years in a row. I doubt we'll try a third time. I'm sure many people have gone and enjoyed it through the years, so you might want to check it out for yourself. Maybe if you know someone who lives in the area you might get information on the best times to go.

There used to be a balloon festival in Bristol but that seems to have become defunct. Maybe something else will pop up over time to take its place.

Plainville is home to Connecticut's oldest airport, so maybe we'll visit that spot if we come back.

Check out our first Plainville visit.