GALLERIES: Four launches and perfect weather brings wonderment and joy to thousands
By Andrew Harris, photo from the Official Great Wellsville Balloon Rally
“I love it when a plan comes together,” a wise man once said. The local team behind the Great Wellsville Balloon Rally plans for most of the year to host the biggest party of the year in Allegany County. Sometimes all that planning and community service gets spoiled by bad weather. Sometimes all the hard work and effort becomes a dream come true. The rally last weekend was as dreamy as this gallery by Bethany Bridge:
Wellsville Mayor Randy Shayler had family come to town for the weekend and got a big surprise!!
“It was unbelievable! We had multiple balloons land in our yard and all around us. It was an unbelievable memory for my family that we won’t forget.”
The all volunteer Balloon Rally committee was equally happy after putting in months and months of planning and work behind the scenes:
“Wow Wow Wow Wow ….. What a weekend, 4 for 4. Mother Nature can be fickle. Little behind the scenes information. At the start of the weekend general consensus was that 2 out of 4 was going to be the number. Well Mother Nature said “wait a minute, hold my beer”. That being said, it takes a whole community to pull this event off. I want to thank our EMS Responders, Police, Fireman for doing what they do to keep everyone safe. DPW, water department, and Electric department Thank you!Sponsors support the rally in many different ways every single year Thank you! Pilots and crew ( who the committee members think of as Family) Thank you for do for our community. Tony and Dawn for putting on a safety / information seminar for the local firefighters. Last but not least My committee members that go over and above to make this event very successful. One last thing. 4 for 4 does not happen very often. It was 15 years ago that the last 4 for 4 happened in Wellsville. I would be remiss is I didn’t thank the people of our community, far and wide, for your continued support for over 48 years of our rally. With that, the 48th annual Great Wellsville Balloon is a wrap. The committee will take a few months off and in February 2026 the process starts all over again. Godspeed and take care.”
The Saturday Main Street Festival was equally successful with more vendors and action on Main Street than ever. Dave Bartlett captured this view of the festival:
This kind of magic doesn’t just happen without some serious organized effort and planning by the volunteers like co-chairs Brad and Deb Thompson. The team they have around them is equally talented but can always use new members and new energy. If you want to volunteer for the 2026 rally contact them via email or Facebook asap!! or at wellsvilleballoonrally.com
A big thank you to this 2025 team:
Deb and Brad Thompson, Chris and Mark Weidemann, Georgia and Marvin Moffat, Drew Evans, Corinne Davis, Jr. Rifenburg, Holli and Ben Polselli, Michelle and Steve Pettenati, Rich Mangles, Mike Raptis, Brian Kelly, Melissa Babbitt, Brian Magee, and Cameron Dunlap
Photos by Ed Pekarek:
