Plano Balloon Festival | September 18, 2010

Hello Everyone! I hope this blog post finds everyone well. I must say, I am very
glad to be back home in Texas where I belong. Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to volunteer once again with the Plano Balloon Festival, and I must say, it was incredible! I have volunteered with the Plano Balloon Festival for over 5 years now and I love coming back year after year. 

Amanda Jenkins, the Community Stage Coordinator is such a joy to work with and allowed me to pick and choose the times that worked with my schedule to emcee the community and main stages.

So after going to bed around in the wee hours of morning from Tet Trung Thu on Friday, on Saturday, I woke up at 6 to ready myself to be the official emcee of the Plano Balloon Festival. 

I am very blessed to say that my neighborhood is located extremely close to the festival grounds, therefore every morning, I can see the balloon launch. Driving out the festival I saw countless vivid beautiful balloons flying across the clear blue sky. 

My morning started off by announcing a martial arts group and Jonathan surprised me by bringing me breakfast and an iced chai tea latte during my shift. I was so happy to have food to eat with a nice cool drink to sip while the performers did their thing on stage. As the sun rose higher and higher in the air, the Texas heat got stronger and stronger.

There were many great performances that day, but to me, Hip Hop Nation stood out the most and were by far, the most outstanding. One of the dancers even did a Justin Bieber impersonation to get all the young girls in the audience revved up and excited about the festival! I thought it was so cute!

Overall, the festival had a GREAT turnout this year along with an innumerable amount of vivacious balloons that filled the Plano sky with beauty every morning and night. I’ll definitely be back next year to emcee if my busy college student schedule allows. 

A big thanks to Amanda and her team who made me feel so welcome. Another thanks to Mark, who drove me back and forth between the community and main stages so I didn’t have to battle the hills in my peep-toe heels ;) 

P.S. Remember how I mentioned that my house is extremely close to the festival grounds? Jonathan and I were able to watch the fireworks show Saturday night from my doorstep. How perfect.