Hudson, Hot Air Affair :: Hudson, Wisconsin

FRIDAY, FEB. 5 | SATURDAY, FEB. 6 | SUNDAY, FEB. 7

2010 SCHEDULE

January 8-25:
CHILDREN’S COLORING AFFAIR
Coordinated by St. Croix Valley YMCA, Associated Bank-Hudson, Hudson Star-Observer, Minuteman Press and Hudson Schools. Children’s pictures on display at YMCA, Hudson Star-Observer and Associated Bank locations through Hot Air Affair. Download Coloring Page here.

Friday, January 22, 5-8 pm:
HUDSON HOT AIR AFFAIR KICK-OFF at Dick's Bar & Grill
Come enjoy “Peace, Love & Balloons ” with costumes, prizes, trivia games and fun. 60's and 70's music.

Saturday, January 23, 9-11:30 am:
CHILDREN'S KICK-OFF BREAKFAST at Dick's Bar & Grill
Kids’ Breakfast Special just $2. Free helium balloons. Come see the hot air balloon basket.

Saturday, January 23, 5-8 pm:
CANDLELIGHT SKI AND HIKE at YMCA Camp St. Croix
Sponsored by Larsen Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy and PCK Foundation. Candle-lit trails for cross-country skiing and hiking along with trail side fires for quick warm ups. Weather permitting, a tethered hot air balloon will present a “night glow”. Complimentary refreshments hosted by Art Doyle’s Spokes & Pedals. Free admission, no advanced registration required.

Sunday, January 24, 2:00-4:00 pm:
FAMILY DAY ACTIVITYat Phipps Center for the Arts
Family members of all ages will create costumes to wear as they walk behind “The Phipps is for Kids” banner for the “Peace, Love & Balloons” quirky and fun Torchlight Parade on Feb. 5. All materials provided for this free hands-on art-making activity. Call 715-386-2305 to sign up.

Saturday, January 30, 10:00am-2:00 pm:
BACK TO THE 60's at Family Fresh Market
Step back 50 years to enjoy “Peace, Love & Balloons” with music, dancing, karaoke, face painting for kids, a cake walk, best hippie costume contest and lots of in-store specials. Register to win a balloon ride. Come see a hot air balloon basket and meet the pilot!

BALLOONING EDUCATION PROGRAM Sponsored by Sylvan Learning Center. Classroom programs on hot air ballooning in Hudson and area schools. Programs coordinated by Hot Air Affair Committee, pilots, Viking Electronics, Culligan-Stillwater, Sylvan Learning Center and The UPS Store-Hudson.

10:00 am: PEACE, LOVE AND BALLOONS SALE AND BUTTON INSTANT PRIZES at Hudson businesses. Winter clearance sales and special events. Check your Hot Air Affair button number against numbers posted in participating stores Feb. 5, 6 & 7 and you could be an instant winner! Pick up your button at the Hudson Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau office or participating businesses. Shop Elan Clothing/Dilly Dally in the Alley Gifts, Et Cetera, SEASONS on St. Croix Gallery, Grapevine Interiors “AT HOME”, The Purple Tree, lavender thymes, Art Doyle’s Spokes and Pedals, Knoke’s Chocolates, CocoBello, Abigail Page Antiques, Coop’s Pizza, Lillians, Bob Smith’s Sports Club, Mattress Galaxy, Marnie Marie Photography, Studio CJV Creative, Bert’s Coffee Café, Bella Luce Boutique, St. Croix Souvenir, Digital Garage & Macxprts, Pangea International Jewelry & Gifts, The Nova and Green Mill.

HOT AIR AFFAIR GEOCACHING throughout the Hudson area. Go to
www.geocaching.com for coordinates of winter friendly geocaches in Hudson and the
St. Croix Valley. NEW geocaches hidden in the immediate Hudson area including traditional, multi, puzzle, letterbox, event and earth cache. Also, a “Basics in Geocaching” seminar will be held Saturday, 2/6 at 10:00am in the E.P. Rock school cafeteria for all novice cachers interested.

7:06 pm: TORCHLIGHT “PEACE, LOVE & BALLOONS” PARADE, FEATURING PRIZES FOR THE BEST OVERALL PARADE UNIT, THE BEST UNIT BY HOT AIR BALLOONISTS, THE BEST “PEACE, LOVE & BALLOONS” THEME UNIT AND THE BEST KAZOO MARCHING BAND. Hot air balloon pilots and crews displaying blasts of fire. Parade participants line up at 6:00 pm at Wells Fargo Bank parking lot and parade travels down Second Street. Prizes in each category. This years Grand Marshall is Neal Doughty, keyboardist and original band member for REO Speedwagon. Please call 715-386-8332, 715-386-6217 or 715-381-2050 by noon on February 5th to register. Parade sponsors include Viking Electronics, Dibbo’s Nightclub, Café & Bar, St. Croix Self Service Storage, Hudson Bowling Center/Plaza Lounge, O’Connell Family Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, Inc., Valley Agency, Inc.-Dennis Lee, Culver’s-Hudson, Gavic Construction, Allstate Insurance-Craig Hofland, Target-Hudson, WalMart, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, Land Title Inc., Red’s Savoy Pizza, Agave Kitchen and Valley Orthodontics.

FIREWORKS DISPLAY, immediately after parade over Lakefront Park and the St. Croix River. Sponsored by Andersen Corporation. Grand finale to downtown festivities.

9:00 pm: KARAOKE at Plaza Lounge, Plaza 94.

10:00 pm: DANCE at Dick’s Bar & Grill, 111 Walnut Street.

10:00 pm: LIVE MUSIC by "Rising" at Dibbo’s Nightclub, 517 Second Street.

7:30 am: BALLOON LAUNCH, nearly 40 hot air balloons, including special shapes, in competitive flight. E.P. Rock school grounds (13th and Summer, on the Hill). Concessions and souvenirs available.

7:00 am-noon: PANCAKE BREAKFAST, Masonic Temple, 209 Locust Street. Sponsored by Masonic Lodge #56. All you care to eat breakfast—pancakes, cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, biscuits & sausage gravy, fruit, beverages. $7.00 adults, $3.50 children 10 and younger.

8:00 am-8:00 pm: MARKETPLACE AND CRAFT FAIR, E.P. Rock School (13th and Summer, on the Hill). Craft and souvenir selection with special winter apparel, ballooning and Hot Air Affair emphasis. Visit the Hot Air Affair booth for souvenirs, Hot Air Affair apparel and collectibles. Hot food and drinks available in cafeteria by local non-profit groups.

Steve Jacobs of Stillwater Balloons is working with a group to raise money to build an orphanage in Haiti with Hope in the Light Ministries. Steve has donated balloon rides and local dining establishments have donated gift cards. Every dollar you spend on hot air balloon rides and dining translates into a dollar sent to build an orphanage in Haiti. Two ways to help; visit their table at the Marketplace at E.P. Rock School on Saturday or go to their website at www.dineandflyforhaiti.com

8:00 am: HOT AIR AFFAIR GEOCACHING throughout the Hudson area. “Clean as a Whistle” Cache In Trash Out event. Pick up a CITO bag at E.P. Rock School cafeteria between 8 and 11 am and have your geocaching name put on it. Cache away and collect whatever trash you find along the way. Drop off the bag by 2 pm at the school and collect your CITO smiley. Meet and Greet fellow cachers 9:30-11:30 am at J.W. Kaladi’s, 3250 Heiser Street. Bring your geocoins and travel bugs. Go to www.geocaching.com for coordinates of winter friendly geocaches in Hudson and the St. Croix Valley. NEW geocaches hidden in the immediate Hudson area including traditional, multi, puzzle, letterbox, event and earth cache.

10:00 am: GEOCACHING FOR FAMILY FUN. Sponsored by Pioneer Press/Twincities.com. Come meet local geocachers and learn about the fun, family adventure of geocaching. Equipment will be shown and you’ll learn how to get coordinates and search for hidden treasures. Bring your questions. E.P. Rock School cafeteria.

10:00 am: UP, UP & AWAY 5K FUN RUN, E.P. Rock school grounds, sponsored by Anytime Fitness—Hudson. Registration at tent starting 9 am. $15 pre-register by Feb. 1 or $20 day of race. Door prizes, race shirt & refreshments. See home page to download registration form. Download Registration form here.

10:00 am-4 pm: OCTAGON HOUSE MUSEUM guided tours and learn the history of early ballooning, plus photos, stories and actors, sponsored by Dopkins Accounting Service. Admission. Free hot cider and snacks.

11:00 am: WARM UP STATION, sponsored by Tom Nielsen Coldwell Banker Burnet Realty. Visit the E.P. Rock school cafeteria throughout the day for entertaining music, dance performances and programs. Take a warm up break, refreshments available to purchase, entertainment.

12:00 – 3:00 pm: MINNESOTA KITE SOCIETY, E.P. Rock school grounds, sponsored by Xcel Energy. Society members provide a kite ground display, stunt kite demos, fighter kites. Kites for kids of all ages available for sale.

1:00 pm: SMOOSH BOARD COMPETITION, E.P. Rock school grounds. Hot Air Affair’s wackiest winter sport with 4 people on the same smoosh boards. Call 386-7300 or 381-2050 for team registration, $10 per team. Prizes for best team in competition plus best “Peace, Love & Balloons” costumes. Smoosh boards available. Sponsored by Resco.

1:00 – 3:00 pm: CRAFTS FOR KIDS “Peace, Love & Balloons”, sponsored by First National Community Bank in conjunction with YMCA Camp St. Croix at E.P. Rock School Marketplace. Kids join in making free crafts.

3:00 pm: BALLOON LAUNCH, E.P. Rock school grounds. Optional flight if morning flight launched. Mass ascension if morning flight was canceled.

6:00 – 8:00 pm: FREEDOM TENT CELEBRATES “PEACE, LOVE & BALLOONS”, sponsored by Freedom Valu Centers, Tent at E.P. Rock school grounds. Free hot refreshments and family fun. Freedom Valu Centers is a proud sponsor of the 21st annual Hot Air Affair. The award winning Mr. Magic will be wandering through the tent and he will leave you mystified with his magic. Mr. Magic has been amazing audiences since his 1st show at age 7 when he witnessed his pastor change a black silk (full of sin) into a white silk (for forgiveness)! In 2009 he won 1st place in the Minneapolis – St Paul ‘Presidential Challenge’. Stop by the FREEDOM tent at the Moon Glow/Field of Fire on Saturday from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm and be amazed!

6:30 pm: HOT AIR BALLOON MOON GLOW OR FIELD OF FIRE, E.P. Rock school grounds. Hot air balloons light up the dark so bring your camera for this spectacular event! In case of windy weather, Moon Glow becomes a Field of Fire.

7:30 pm: SILENT AUCTION KICK-OFF TO BENEFIT CONCERT at Best Western Hudson House Inn.

8:00 pm: PEACE, LOVE & BALLOONS BENEFIT CONCERT, sponsored by Angel’s Pet World, at Best Western Hudson House Inn. Enjoy an evening of 60’s and 70’s music by "Concentual Unplugged" while raising funds for victims of domestic and sexual violence in Pierce and St. Croix Counties. TurningPoint provides temporary food & shelter, support groups & a 24-hour crisis line. REO Speedwagon's NEAL DOUGHTY will be making a special appearance on at the Benefit Concert at the Hudson House. Come with your items to be autographed! Free will offering appreciated for concert. Cash bar.

9:00 pm: KARAOKE at Plaza Lounge, Plaza 94.

9:00 pm: KARAOKE at Bob Smith's Sports Club Inc., 601 Second Street.

10:00 pm: DANCE at Dick’s Bar & Grill, 111 Walnut Street.

10:00 pm: LIVE MUSIC by “Decibel” at Dibbo’s Nightclub, 517 Second Street.

7:30 am: BALLOON LAUNCH, nearly 40 hot air balloons and special shapes in second competitive flight. E.P. Rock school grounds.

2:00 pm: FIFTEENTH ANNUAL CHILI COOK-OFF, Dick’s Bar & Grill. The hottest, the best, enter your favorite warm up chili concoction and you could win a prize. Sponsored by Dick’s Bar & Grill, call 386-5222 for details and registration by February 6. Limited entries. Cash, trophies and fabulous prizes.

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