We reside in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, frequently referred to by the residents (and the Chamber of Commerce!) as "Heavenly Hunterdon." It is a nice place to live.
One of the more pleasant features of the area is the regular appearance of hot-air balloons. There are a number of balloon companies in the area offering rides for birthdays, anniversaries, or any special occasion, and there is, not too far away, the Festival of Ballooning held each summer at the Solberg Airport in Readington.
But, in today’s economy, the number of balloons we see in the sky has, if you will forgive an unfortunate word choice, plummeted. Where in better times we would see balloons passing overhead quite literally every day, and where we would see multiple balloons aloft at any given point in time, today a balloon sighting is rare. A victim, clearly, of the miserable economy.
Balloon travel is purely a luxury, a leisure activity that is not inexpensive. As a result, it is an activity that is currently not on most peoples’ list of priorities. We are saddened by this, not only because we no longer enjoy the colorful and relaxing sight of balloons drifting by, but also because it clearly represents lost income to the balloon owners. Some of them, we fear, have gone out of business entirely.
Whatever signs the economists may use to evaluate the status of economic recovery, we will know that things are better when the balloon traffic increases.
One of the more pleasant features of the area is the regular appearance of hot-air balloons. There are a number of balloon companies in the area offering rides for birthdays, anniversaries, or any special occasion, and there is, not too far away, the Festival of Ballooning held each summer at the Solberg Airport in Readington.
But, in today’s economy, the number of balloons we see in the sky has, if you will forgive an unfortunate word choice, plummeted. Where in better times we would see balloons passing overhead quite literally every day, and where we would see multiple balloons aloft at any given point in time, today a balloon sighting is rare. A victim, clearly, of the miserable economy.
Balloon travel is purely a luxury, a leisure activity that is not inexpensive. As a result, it is an activity that is currently not on most peoples’ list of priorities. We are saddened by this, not only because we no longer enjoy the colorful and relaxing sight of balloons drifting by, but also because it clearly represents lost income to the balloon owners. Some of them, we fear, have gone out of business entirely.
Whatever signs the economists may use to evaluate the status of economic recovery, we will know that things are better when the balloon traffic increases.