Have you noticed an unusual smell or flavor in your tap water over the past few days?

What's wrong with Raleigh tap water? Algae bloom at Falls Lake behind the smell, color

'Earthy and musty:' Here's why your tap water may taste strange this weekend in Raleigh

Athens Drive Magnet High School and Conn Magnet Elementary School won national awards Saturday at the Magnet Schools of America's annual conference.

Top two magnet schools in the US are in Wake County

Athens Drive High School

All assets associated with the tag: hot air balloon

Hot air balloon Coverage

Two balloons flew near southeastern North Carolina in the Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett long-distance gas balloon championship.

Gordon Bennett race balloons fly over southeastern North Carolina

 2015 WRAL Freedom Balloon Fest

The annual First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival has been rescheduled to next weekend due to weather concerns, organizers announced Tuesday. 

Memorial Balloon Festival postponed due to weather concerns

First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival

The 2022 First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival promises three days of rides, food, music and demonstrations, and of course the nightly balloon glow, to mark the holiday.  

Sunny skies on tap for Memorial Balloon Festival, running Saturday through Monday

Freedom Balloon Festival

This Memorial Day Weekend, check out a high-flying event in Louisburg.

first fruits for Memorial balloon festival has held Memorial weekend and Lewisburg at this beautiful farm. We partnered up last year to try to put together a family friendly, very patriotic event to remember those that have given everything for our country. What's at the heart of this festival and for us, what's at the heart of Memorial Day is that it's a time when we just stopped and uh, we pay homage to those who paid the ultimate price. We're hoping everybody can come out and enjoy this fun time. It's family oriented. One of the biggest things people liked last year and they can look forward to this year, uh, is accessible. And we had a chainsaw artists out here last year that made some beautiful art here on site. We have live music every day on stage this year, we'll have 30 hot air balloons that will be here every morning. We'll have our tethered rides around 44 30 where you can actually go ride a balloon that's tied with ropes and go up and down. And then after that at least half the balloons will, will take off from the field and, and you can just witness like one of those being inflated and taken off across the sky. It's beautiful. And then about 8:15 we have what's called a glow where all the balloons will line up throughout the venue and when they hit those burners, those balloons light up like light bulbs and it's one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen in your life this year. We've added something that we've decided to do to raise awareness of the issue of veterans suicide. We've lost approximately 9000 soldiers in the gulf wars. But unfortunately since then we've lost over 170,000 that have taken their own lives as a result of what they endured, what they went through and what they brought back with them, the money that we raise from the five K. We'll all go to helping you know, this really bad problem we have here in the United States. So we're hoping everybody can come out and enjoy this fun time and, and have a blast. But also remember that, hey, we're out here and we're able to do this because of those that gave it all. The festival is friday saturday sunday monday of memorial weekend at first fruits farms. It's a great event. I think you're gonna have a blast. And we look forward to seeing you

First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival (station partnership)

A newly wedded couple in Kentucky takes a hot air balloon to the reception but the balloon makes an unscheduled stop. Fortunately nobody was injured and the bride and groom have quite a story to tell.

sunday november 7th 2021. The day that Derrick and Emily morton became husband and wife, family and friends smiled as the newlyweds shared their first dance they married just hours before this moment, a ceremony that ended with a hot air balloon ride soaring above Scenic Fayette County, the colors, the fall colors. It was just one of the most beautiful things that I've experienced. But that picturesque route did not end the way it was supposed to when it came time to land, Derrick and Emily say the winds kept blowing as the pilot tried to avoid a crash, flew into a tree, the basket jars, we all fall to the bottom of the basket, the basket lands on the ground. We come up, they say the balloon touched down in the backyard of a neighborhood But the pilot took them up once again and I'm thinking that we're gonna land. I'm thinking that he's not going to take the balloon back up but he hits the fire, makes the balloon go back up in the air and before you know it we're back up in the air and flying across I-75, they eventually settled in a farm off Todd's road. This started the second step of the couple's journey to the reception. A long walk to the road, we wasn't dressed for it. Uh We needed boots and jeans, we didn't have that, it was thistles and and all kinds of rough patches, water that you had to cross and it was just bad Derrick and Emily eventually got a ride with an L. E. X. 18 photographer and celebrated their Big day a little later than first planned. But despite all the ups and downs, mr and mrs morton say they do it all over again, I would do it again as much as I complained, I would do it again.

Hot air balloon makes unintended stop on way to wedding reception 

A bumpy ride: Newly-wedded couple's ride to reception doesn't go as planned

The festival, which will include hot air balloon flights and tethered rides, will happen Friday through Sunday at the Barn at Lloyd's Dairy on an 800 acre farm near where Interstates 40 and 85 merge. 

Hot air balloon festival planned this weekend in Efland

Freedom Balloon Fest 2018 

A hot air balloon crashed in New Zealand Friday as it was about to land. Eleven people on board were injured. Two were taken to a hospital. 

Today we were tenants and involving a hot air balloon that has, for reasons unknown, come crashing to the ground and then being dragged into a house via paralyze. A total of 11 patients here on scene. two were flown with, I guess critical injuries through the Dunedin Hospital, and the remainder nine patients have gone through two lakes hospital in Queenstown. On arrival, we were confronted with a large scene, so we had patients scattered over a sort of 100 m distance and so responding to those patients and understanding what the situation was. What took some time based of that, the length of the scene, I guess, you could say.

Hot air balloon crashes in New Zealand, injuring 11

Hot air balloon crashes in New Zeland

The First Roots Farm Memorial Balloon Festival starts Friday with hot air balloons, food and musical performances.

FARM  THIS MORNING WITH A PREVIEW. >> Reporter: THE FIRSTFRUITS FARM'S MEMORIAL BALLOON FESTIVAL STARTS TODAY AND HOT AIR BALLOONS ARE A MAJOR PART OF THIS EVENT. THAT'S NOT ALL. THEY WILL HAVE FOOD AND MUSICAL PERFORMANCES. THE MAIN GOAL IS TO KEEP PEOPLE FOCUSED ON THE TRUE MEANING OF MEMORIAL DAY. BY REMEMBERING THOSE WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING THROUGH MILITARY SERVICE. THE EVENT RUNS THROUGH MONDAY AND GATES OPEN TODAY AT 2:00. THE OPENING CEREMONY IS AT 5:00 P.M. TICKETS ARE $10.00 FOR ADULTS AND $5.00 FOR KIDS GOOD ANYONE UNDER AGE 6 IS FREE.

Memorial balloon festival to honor fallen heroes 

The First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival is planned May 28-31 and will include hot air balloon rides, chainsaw wood carving, a food truck rodeo, carnival rides, a Frisbee disc dog show, nightly fireworks and a beer garden. An All Veterans Group Parachute Team and The Bandit Flight Team will also be making appearances. (Video courtesy First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival)

The First Fruits Farm Memorial balloon festival is taking place May 28 through the 31st at First Fruits Farm in Lewisburg, just minutes north of Raleigh. This family event features hot air balloon launches, tethered rides and nightly glows throughout the event. There will also be air shows, carnival rides, food trucks, beer and wine gardens, fireworks and live music, all while paying tribute to honor those who gave all defending our country for complete details or to purchase tickets, visit and see memorial balloon best dot com.

Preview First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival 

The First Fruits Farm Memorial Balloon Festival is planned May 28-31 and will include hot air balloon rides, chainsaw wood carving, a food truck rodeo, carnival rides, a Frisbee disc dog show, nightly fireworks and a beer garden. 

Schedule released for hot air balloon festival on Memorial Day weekend

Photojournalist Matt Newey and his girlfriend got more than they bargained for during a weekend hot air balloon ride.

Yeah, the weather was looking really good. They sent up these like Little Test balloon. Matt Newey and Carly Ann Gallagher were up with the crack of dawn for the right of a lifetime that Southern Utah's annual Balloons and Tunes roundup in Kanab. We took off and just started floating, and there's a couple other balloons ahead of us. It was gorgeous, like one of the most beautiful views. What came next? Yeah, we started kind of coming over this. There's like this reservoir knocked the wind out of their sales. You could kind of feel it like this. It was like we hit this like, wall of like, wind. It just kind of like it. Just like, yeah, we just started dropping and descending really quick. That's when they realized they weren't going to clear the water way, hits the water and then it like tips over sideways and the whole thing They're filling up with water and we're getting like drag. Do not get out fleet. But the couple says the pilot jumped action, leveling the balloon up and out of the water. Brooklyn, It's like ice cold water, like they're like on the shore. There's ice Yeah, we were like going through ice. Luckily, everyone made it back to shore safely. Fancy meeting you here. I don't ever feel like any of our lives were in danger. They're just kind of like a funny, weird flu after their unforgettable landing. We don't wanna land any other way. Couple already has plans for next year. It was a super fun event. Like I would definitely come again and I'd ride in a hot air balloon again. Not scared at all. Yeah, me neither. I would do it in a heartbeat, right? Yeah, yeah.

Splash! Hot air balloon makes wet crash landing 

The ride of a lifetime for one couple was interrupted by an unexpected landing into chilly water.

hot air balloon festival became a frightening sight for a Utah couple after their balloon crashed into the water. One of the passengers who happened to work for the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah, captured the whole ride on video. Garner Muhaya has more on the story. Yeah, the weather was looking really good. They set up these like Little Test balloon. Matt New and Carly Ann Gallagher were up at the crack of dawn for the right of a lifetime that Southern Utah's annual balloons and tunes round up in Kanab. We took off and just started floating, and there's a couple other balloons ahead of us. It was gorgeous, like one of the most beautiful views. What came next? Yeah, we started kind of coming over this. There's like this reservoir knocked the wind out of their sales. You could kind of feel it like this. It was like we hit this like, wall of, like, wind on it, just kind of like it, just like, yeah, we just started dropping and descending really quick. That's when they realized they weren't going to clear the water way, hits the water and then it like tips over sideways and the whole thing They're filling up with water. And we're getting, like, drag. No, no, no, no. Do not get out, please. But the couple says the pilot jumped Action, leveling the balloon up and out of the water. I reckon it's like high school water, like they're like on the shores. There's ice. Yeah, we're like going through ice. Luckily, everyone made it back to shore safely. Fancy meeting you here. Okay. I don't ever feel like any of our lives were in danger. They're just kind of like a funny, weird flu after their unforgettable landing. We don't wanna land any other way. Couple already has plans for next year. It was a super fun event. Like I would definitely come again and I'd ride in a hot air balloon again. Not scared. Yeah, me neither. I would do it in a heartbeat.

Hot air balloon makes emergency landing into reservoir

Utah couple OK after crash landing into water on hot air balloon ride

The woman is in hospice care and always dreamed of flying in a hot air balloon.

Teens help woman get balloon ride

San Diego City Councilman Mark Kersey stated this was the second such incident in a year.

Hot air balloon makes emergency landing in San Diego

An annual hot air balloon festival in New Mexico features dozens of entries and colorful, crowded skies. 