Are you thinking about attending the First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival this weekend? We went on Friday afternoon and have all of the insider details listed below!

Unfortunately, it was too windy to inflate any of the hot air balloons on Friday. All air activities were cancelled due to weather, including the tethered balloon rides, air show, and parachutes. We did have a short flyover during the national anthem, but we were extremely disappointed since the whole reason we were attending was so we could finally ride in a hot air balloon! Of course, no one can control the weather and the event holders made it abundantly clear that everything was weather dependent, but it was still disappointing nonetheless. Make sure you check the Facebook page for weather updates before you attend. It was gorgeous out when we left for the festival so it didn’t even occur to me to check!

Festival Activities

As for the actual festival, it occurs rain or shine, so there are some other activities you can participate in other than viewing the balloons.

Kiddie Rides and Inflatables

Tickets cost $1 and most rides were 3 tickets. There was no unlimited wrist band option. They had some basic carnival rides like a mini tilt-a-whirl and mini ferris wheel, plus some inflatable bounce houses and obstacle courses. My 3 year old was immediately drawn to the tractor train, which took us for a nice long ride around the event space. The operator was extremely friendly and we enjoyed our ride!

Touch a Truck

There were quite a few military helicopters and a military vehicle that you could climb up in and explore. When we arrived there was no wait so we took our time exploring! There was also a race car available that you could look at. My husband and I were surprised to see all of the lights and grills on the car were just stickers! They really are bare-boned cars!

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Gem Mining

Treasure Quest Mining setup a mobile gem mining area. Bags cost $12. We didn’t try it since we just recently visited Blue Diamond Gemstone Mining, but this would probably be a great way to keep the kids entertained for a while!

Memorial Flag Garden

There was a ring of American Flags with benches along the outside for meditation. In the center of the circle I saw a bell and a couple other items, but I didn’t see anything done with them while we were there.

Wood carving demonstration

We saw this on our way out, but there was a craftsman using a chainsaw to carve intricate statues out of tree stumps. This probably only occur at set times, so check the event schedule on the website.

Main Stage

We didn’t sit and watch the bands onstage, but the music we heard coming from the main stage was good and patriotic. They started with a tribute to our military, which was very moving and appropriate for Memorial Day. I would say the main stage is probably the highlight of the festival. Bring a lawn chair and setup camp for the evening to listen to some live music! Our kids aren’t great at just hanging out and listening to music just so we don’t get to do that much anymore, but hopefully your kids can!

Fair Food

We saw turkey legs, corn on the cob, funnel cakes, Kona Ice, lemonade, and ice cream. You can definitely get your fair food fix here!

VIP Tent

If you buy the $85 VIP ticket you can enter the Gondola Club tent and enjoy the buffet! Unfortunately the VIP tent contains the only tables and shade in the whole festival. There are no shady spots to beat the heat and no tables available anywhere, so bring your own picnic blankets and lawn chairs if you want to sit.

Beer and Wine Garden

We didn’t enter since we had our kids with us, but the available breweries are listed on the website.

Axe Throwing

A mobile axe throwing area was available at a cost of $10 for 10 throws.

Overall Impressions

We spent about 2 hours at the First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival, and that’s without most of the scheduled activities since they were cancelled due to weather. I’d say it’s a great family-friendly way to spend the day, but there were definitely a few things I would change.

Weather Dependent

I’ll admit it’s hard to get past my disappointment with being unable to see and ride the hot air balloons. That was my main draw to this event since it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for so long! I’m hoping they will be able to run everything as scheduled the rest of the weekend, but there’s rain in the forecast so it’s not looking too promising.

Plenty of space to spread out

As for the festival, I was impressed with the amount of space they had to spread everything out. We came early on Friday so there wasn’t much of a crowd yet, but this place is perfect for large gatherings. With over 150 acres, Frist Fruit Farm is an awesome place to hold such a large event like this!

Parking costs $10 and is quite a walk

There was plenty of parking available, but there was an unexpected extra cost of $10 per car. It’s also quite a far walk to the event unless you paid for VIP parking. I’d say it was a little over a quarter of a mile walk from the parking to the festival. My kids were pretty tired just from walking there and back, so be prepared!

Not stroller friendly

The land that the festival is held on was obviously recently used to plant and harvest hay. The ground is very bumpy so it’s not stroller friendly at all. you may be able to get away with it if you have a jogging stroller that handles off-roading pretty well, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Wear tennis shoes and bring lawn chairs

The straw-like grass everywhere also made it uncomfortable to sit on the ground. My 5 year old really hated the sensation since it made her itchy. Definitely bring a picnic blanket or lawn chairs! And I recommend tennis shoes instead of sandals.

No shade or tables

I was a little disappointed with the lack of shade and tables. I wish they had a few places for families to sit and cool off because the sun really is beating down on you the whole time. Don’t forget sunscreen, and you may want to apply it a few times! Hats would also be a good idea if you have them. It was HOT!

Vendors are expensive

In my opinion the admission cost was reasonable, but most of the extra activities were pretty expensive. Almost everything was an extra cost, which I’m not really a big fan of. If I’m paying an admission price I’d like some things to be included. The kiddie rides obviously caught my children’s eyes, but at $3 per ride per kid we really couldn’t do much. Each kid picked one ride, and since I had to ride with my 3 year old too that alone cost $12. If they could offer an unlimited wrist band that could help, but I’m sure it would probably be too expensive for us anyway. I guess the ride pricing was similar to the NC State Fair, although we usually don’t ride the rides and just walk around to all the vendors with fun, free activities.

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Overall it was unique way to spend our Memorial Day weekend, so I recommend checking it out! I hope they make it an annual event so we can actually see some balloons in flight! Hopefully one day I’ll finally get that hot air balloon ride I’ve been dreaming of!