While the Chester County Balloon Festival has grown into the largest hot air balloon festival in the state of Pennsylvania, the festival’s origins hold roots in Downingtown.
The event, first known as the WBYA BalloonFest, was created as a small community event by the West Bradford Youth Athletics. Vicki Moretti, a Chester County native and successful real estate agent, was at the helm of its creation.
After moving to Downingtown in 1992, she and her neighborhoods put together a nonprofit organization, Downingtown Works, where she served as President for four years.
“We held several different fundraising events that benefited the Dowingtown Main Street Lighting program, Make A Wish Foundation, and we were the largest single contributor to the All Abilities Playground Fund located in Kerr Park.” Moretti said.
As her son grew, her entire family become deeply involved with the West Bradford Athletics Association for two decades. During that time, she was a helpful Board member, baseball commissioner, and event/sponsor coordinator.
“I organized and executed a number of fundraising events to offset programming costs and to offer scholarships to our participants upon graduation.” Moretti explained. “Those events included a local business team sponsorship program, Winterfest Annual Beef & Beer fundraiser, WBYA merch purchase program, Buy-A-Brick on the new snack bar sidewalk, 5K Fundraiser, Golf Tournament and, of course, the Chester County Balloon Festival.”
Originally held on the Embreeville soccer fields, the Chester County Balloon Festival had a modest start. With just one hot air balloon and a BBQ grill, it was the start of a tradition. Moretti, who served as the event coordinator, staffed the event with volunteers. They sold burgers and hot dogs from the snack bar to pay for the balloon propane; ending up with a small profit by the end of the event. That profit went back to the soccer field’s snack bar.
“There was so much interest that first year the WBYA Board decided to up the game for the following year,” Moretti said. The name was officially changed to Chester County Balloon Festival in order to draw a bigger crowd and create a county-wide presence. That year, the event was held on Father’s Day; complete with five hot air balloons. The food scene increased as well, with offerings from local vendors.
“We obtained sponsorships, offered VIP experiences, and collaborated with Downingtown West for volunteers and West Bradford Township manager Jack Hines to pull it all off.” said Moretti.
By the third year, the festival expanded to a three-day event, now showcasing over 10 hot air balloons with crews staying in local hotels and campgrounds in the surrounding area. WBYA partnered with the Chester County Visitors’ Bureau and local businesses to help promote and sponsor the event. Vendor numbers rose to over 90, live music and a kid’s activity area was also added. Now, so successful, the festival was free to attend besides a $5 parking donation, thanks to sponsorships.
“We also merged this event with our annual Golf Tournament at Broad Run Golf Club which raised money for our Scholar Athlete Program for WBYA participants.” Moretti said.
In the fourth and fifth year, the Chester County Balloon Festival really took flight, pulling in a whopping 20,000 attendees. While it was an incredible source of income for the organizations, the Board decided it had grown much too large to manage on a volunteer basis.
“There was a group of 4 of us that thought it was such a great event and hated to see it go under.” Moretti explained. “We acquired the rights to it, established our own non-profit and coordinated directly with the state (who owned the property) and West Bradford Township to secure continued permission to continue on with the festival.”
Local businesses continued to sponsor and utilized Downingtown West, whose high school seniors needed community service hours to graduate, to fill their volunteer needs. After the fifth year, the Embreeville property was sold to a land developer and wouldn’t commit to continued use of the property. For the following two year, the Chester County Balloon Festival was located at Plantation Fields in Unionville. Although Katie and Cuyler Walker, owners of the property, were both gracious and accommodating, the area proved to be a bit too rural for the number of attendees filtering in and out and would need to be relocated once again.
“At this point, after eight years, I was ready to hand the reigns to someone else.” Moretti said.
AirVentures, located in Lionsville, bought the rights and have run it ever since, recently completing their 14th year.
From the festival’s inception, the appeal of hot air balloons attracted visitors from all over the country, with some groups traveling from Florida and Colorado. No matter where the event is held, all of Chester County will benefit from its existence, as tourism, business, volunteerism, and community engagement flourishes.
“Although I have been out of the actual planning of the festival now for six years, I do get a warm and fuzzy feeling every year when I see the announcement that Chester County Balloon Fest will continue on next year.” Moretti said.
A prospering real estate agent since 1996, Moretti’s office is now located at Long and Foster in West Chester.
Learn about the history of Jefferson and Chestnut Street’s corner store here.
