Prime conditions drew more than a dozen aeronauts from around the Northwest – as well as local photographers and onlookers – to Winthrop’s 19th-annual Balloon Festival this past weekend.
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The rare sight of balloons drifting overhead set horses galloping around their pasture on the Twisp-Winthrop East County Road.



Carmen Blakely, from Salem, Oregon, provided a burst of propane gas to coax her balloon to a higher altitude. Blakely was a flight attendant — in airplanes — before she got her license as a balloon pilot 15 years ago.


