Bristol International Balloon Fiesta

Cameron Balloons is proud to support Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, with everything from building new balloons and providing free meeting and event space, to volunteer help, banners, competition-markers, exhibition pieces, press and media interviews and quick turn-around repairs.

Don Cameron, having discovered how to make and fly a balloon (flying it from Weston on the Green, Oxford on 9th July 1967) enjoyed the early days of ballooning firsts - flights over the Sahara Desert, the Alps, altitude, distance, duration, first scoop, first airship, etc.

These succeeded, but it was Don's own attempt to make the first balloon flight over the Atlantic in 1978, ending in the sea around 100 miles from France, that sparked the idea. This adventure prompted Don's fellow members of the Bristol Junior Chamber to ask him to give a talk about his exploits and, in the pub afterwards, the idea of the Fiesta was born.

The following year, on the weekend of 7th-9th September 1979, a small gathering of like-minded balloonists came together to celebrate the first ever Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. Organised by the Bristol Junior Chamber of Commerce and Shipping, the Fiesta was held at the popular ballooning location of Ashton Court.

Now more than 40 years on, BIBF is Europe's largest annual hot air balloon festival. Across four days it attracts over 100 hot air balloons and 500,000 members of the public, and the team at Cameron Balloons are proud to be one of the partners bringing it all together.