Watch This Hot-Air Balloon Unexpectedly Land at Lewiston Irving

One of the balloons taking part in the weekend's Great Falls Balloon Festival ended up landing at an Irving station in Lewiston.

What Is the Great Falls Balloon Festival?

The festival is quite a sight to see. Or so I've heard. I had every intention of going down there over the weekend, with my trusty camera in tow. But I just didn't make it. Imagine a large number of brightly-colored hot-air balloons all taking off at 6:00 in the morning, just after sunrise, 3 days in a row. What a sight that must be. Actually, I found this video on YouTube, posted by someone calling themselves clockwork meltdown, to give you an idea of what the launch looks like. Beautiful. By the way, you can also take rides in these balloons, which must be amazing.

Where Did the Wayward Balloon Land?

You'll notice that one of the balloons captured on that video was the Re/Max insurance balloon. It was a beautiful day for floating through the air in a giant basket, but for the group riding in that particular balloon, it included an unexpected detour. Rich Burton of Lewiston noticed the balloon descending in town on Sunday morning and pulled out his phone to take some video.

Once the balloon got close to the ground, Burton once again caught it on video, landing at the Lewiston Irving station. Did they drop in to buy beer, fuel, or make a pit stop? I mean, that would be one of my fears - we'd just take off and I'd realize I had to pee. No public bathrooms in that basket.

Was Anyone Hurt?

In the video, you can see the police arrive just as the balloon nears the ground. You can also see that there were quite a few people in the basket of the balloon. Burton said, in a comment on his Facebook page, that no one was hurt in the landing. And the pilot showed some skill, avoiding the power lines and vehicles at the gas station. Hopefully, they were able to get the balloon pilot what he needed to take off again or provide the passengers with rides back to their vehicles.