Kyle’s annual “Pie in the Sky” hot-air balloon festival, cancelled last year because of the COVID pandemic, is back on the schedule for the upcoming Labor Day weekend at Lake Kyle, 700 Lehman Road and will feature a performance by country singer Kyle Park, city officials announced today.
The schedule calls for the festival to run from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday, Sept. 3; 6:15 a.m. to noon and 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 4; and 6:15 to 10:30 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 5.
Advance tickets (which may be purchased by clicking here) are available for $5 per person for the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions and $10 per person for the Friday and Saturday evening sessions. The prices for tickets purchased at the gate will be twice those amounts. Children aged 10 and under will be admitted free of charge. Limited on-site public parking will be available at Lake Kyle for $20 a vehicle. Free shuttles to and from Lake Kyle will be running continuously between the festival and free parking locations at Lehman High School, 1700 Lehman Rd.; Tobias Elementary, 1005 East RM 150; and Seton Medical Professional Offices, 1180 Seton Parkway.
“After a year of postponements and cancellations, we are so excited to bring back the Kyle Pie in the Sky Hot Air Balloon Festival,” Special Events Coordinator Sarah Watson said in today’s announcement. “We’ve arranged for lots of new festival experiences — including great specialty balloons, a headlining performance from Texas’ own Kyle Park, increased pie eating contest spectacle, kid zone activities and much more. We’ve got something for everyone this year, and we're planning on making a weekend of it.”
The city said this year’s festival will feature about 25 balloons, including Top Flight, Ladybug and Spider Pig. For an additional $25 (payable onsite), festival attendees will be able to step inside a hot air balloon basket and go aloft; the balloon, however will remain tethered to the ground, so don’t expect any airborne tours of the city. Tickets for tethered rides are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis and are weather dependent.
“The event features morning hot air balloon mass ascensions where balloons take off at sunrise flying over Kyle on Saturday and Sunday morning, as well as beautiful ‘glow shows’ in the evenings, where tethered hot air balloons will glow against the evening sky at Lake Kyle,” the city said in its announcement.
Once again, this year’s festival will feature pie-eating as well as pie-baking contests, along with “a Pie Café, a vendor market with artisan crafts, unique products and great food, live music performances throughout the weekend, and a children’s zone with activities,” the city said.
The city has signed Park, a country music singer with seven No. 1 singles on the Texas Regional Radio Report and 11 singles on the Texas Music Chart’s Top 10, to headline the Saturday concert. Additional music performances are planned from Django Walker, Sloppy Joe, the Broken Arrow Band and LC Rocks.
“Anyone named Kyle — spelled that way — is once again invited to participate in the ‘Gathering of the Kyles’ on Saturday morning with the goal to break the Guinness World Record for the most Kyles in one place,’ the city said. “Past participants have come from as far away as Massachusetts.”
As a side note, I have not been able to determine exactly what the Guinness World Record is for most Kyles in one place. "So the record is technically for the largest gathering of people with the same first name (in one place)," city spokesperson Rachel Sonnier said today. "The current record is 2,325, and was achieved by Kupreški kosci (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in Kupres, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2017."
"Aside from glow shows and morning flights, the festival will also light up the night sky with two fireworks shows on Friday and Saturday night,” the city said.
All tethered rides and ticket purchases at the gate will be credit/debit card only, though market vendors may accept cash or credit, the city said. An ATM will be available on site.
The city also said it is still accepting applications for market and food vendors.
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