The wife and I always enjoy the Autumn Aloft balloon festival each year in Park City. Now in its fifth year, it will be held this weekend from September 15 to16. This event first launched in the former silver mining town more than 30 years ago and was recently resurrected as a way for visitors and residents of all ages to celebrate Park City and embrace autumn. Spectators can view up to 24 hot air balloons inflating and launching from locations throughout Park City. Park City residents and visitors often see hot air balloons from afar, but nothing compares to experiencing the magnitude of the aircraft until you are truly among them.

Schedule of Events:

8:30 to 9:00 p.m. Historic Park City Candlestick Event – Main Street: a beautiful family-friendly event and a fun way to gather with other locals,

Sunday, September 16 approximately 8:00 a.m. Main Launch at the North 40 Fields at 2530 Kearns Blvd

The event festivities are free to spectators and are scheduled to take place at multiple locations around the Park City area. Autumn Aloft is a visual delight for spectators rather than an opportunity for balloon rides for event attendees. But, tethered rides may be available on a first come, first serve basis but are not guaranteed. Saturday and Sunday's launch events will take place on the North 40 Playing Fields directly behind Park City's Treasure Mountain Middle school.

Ample parking is provided at the Eccles and Park City High School parking facilities. Additional off-site parking will be available at the China Bridge parking lots in Historic Park City with free public transportation available. A map of the event venue can be viewed here and a map of parking areas can be found here.

Looking for something to do today - the Park City Farmer’s Market, located by the Silver King Resort parking lot, is free to the public and runs each Wednesday through November 1st. More information can be found HERE.

The Kimball Arts Center also has until September 16th one of the foremost women artists of the twentieth-century, Niki de Saint Phalle worked as a sculptor, painter, and filmmaker between the late 1950s and early 2000s. During her distinguished career, she developed a self-taught and very personal aesthetic in pieces that ranged from intimate to monumental, while also notably collaborating with Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jean Tinguely, among others. This exhibition brings visibility to an artist’s oeuvre that is not yet well known in Utah, but was recently celebrated in retrospectives at Paris’ Le Grand Palais and the Guggenheim Bilbao. Her work demonstrates remarkable fight and determination, accomplishing things unlike any other female artist of her generation. The Kimball Art Center opens daily at 10 am.