Anyone go to the Northampton Balloon Festival?
 

I for one did along with thr family and was pleasantly suprised, much better than the last two years. Weather good, lot of stalls selling lots of stuff, some good and a lot of tat as well. Reptile and spider tent was pretty good, my other half is really arachnophobic(sp?) and managed to get within inches of the tanks they where kept in. The Goliath Bird Eater was impressive!

laid back atmosphere and balloons looked good going up Sunday, did Friday night as well, i live on the outskirts and must have had 80+ drift over Friday evening much to amusement of our 2 1/2 y/o.

Free to get in and managed to park around 100yds fromn the main entrance.

piccies here
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BTW - Not left and piccies of the other half in compromising positions or myself covered in welts or playin hide the 'butt plug' as i could not stand the shame and humilliation of a Tweaky style thread. ;)

Went on Friday evening. GF wanted to see Lemar. Was impressed with the layout etc and not too many chav's and chavettes loitering around. 11 quid for 2x Jacket spuds and 2 bottles of water!
Friday night's "Balloon Glow" was a let down as they opted just to to and synch the burners to music but without the balloons fitted.

I went on Saturday night for my first festival visit.

There was plenty to do and look at. How many funfair rides??

Hearing so many children saying 'bye' and waving while the balloons took off was so sweet.

It was nice to watch the balloons. I did not stay for the glow or fireworks as I got too cold.

Judging by the type of people at the show on Saturday night, I would say the rough parts of town were deserted. I have never seen so many chavs in one place.

The atmosphere was still good.

Next time I visit I will take some chairs and a warm coat...lol

Hmm, hoards of chavs arriving around 6pm when the Balloons went up, we left shortly afterwards as the atmosphere had changed.

Didn't bother this year as it was so chav infested last year :confused: I live in one of the old shoe factorys in abington/mounts and being on the top floor meant i could nearly reach out and touch the balloons as they floated over early Sat morning as i was arriving home after a night out, they did look cool :)

So should it be renamed 'Chav fest (with some balloons)'.

I noticed lots of young girls who were preggers or had little sprogs.
The boys had big dogs.

People visiting the festival from outside the area must be put off by the chav element. Can we limit their numbers or should I stop being a snob?

Friday night was ok, guess the threat of rain meant they stayed at their usual habbitat of outside the shops/in bus shelters

The chav population is definately multiplying rapidly :( A big Berlin style wall at the edge of the eastern district and another around semilong/kings heath should help to keep them out of the town centre ;)