PRESS RELEASE FROM THE RAVENNA BALLOON A-FAIR:

Important announcement regarding the 2025 Ravenna Balloon A-Fair.

The Ravenna Balloon A-Fair will be moving the Sunbeau Valley Farm portion of our festival to the Portage County Fairgrounds (4215 Fairground Rd. Atwater, OH 44201). With this move also comes a date change. This year’s festival will be September 25th – 28th. All activities previously held in Downtown Ravenna will remain in Downtown Ravenna including our Grand Parade, Children’s Parade, food and craft vendors, live music, children's alley, and motor alley. This was a very difficult decision that we had to make, and many factors played into this decision. We were approached by the Portage County Engineers late last year and they informed us that there will be a road construction project for the next two years that will have Brady Lake Road and Wall Street down to one lane, forcing us to move our location. We have spent countless hours searching every square inch of Ravenna and Ravenna Township trying to find a new location. There just isn’t a large enough area with the accessibility and amenities that we require to run a safe, accessible and successful festival for everyone to enjoy. Things that had to be considered were:

• Room for parking

• Electric & water hookups

• ADA compliance

• Clear area with a safe flight path for the hot air balloons

• Lighting

• Gate accessibility

• Traffic patterns

These are just a few of the things that had to be taken into consideration. We understand that some people will be upset that this portion of the festival is moving outside of the city limits but please be assured that we have exhausted every option. With this move will come some area for improvement. The Portage County Fairgrounds will give us more room for parking. The past several years we have had to turn people away because we were at capacity and traffic was backed up for miles. We are going to have more room to work with on the grounds, allowing us to bring in more activities for everyone to enjoy, permanent restrooms, more paved walking areas and more. As always, if anyone would like to join the Ravenna Balloon A-Fair and become a member, our meetings are on the third Thursday of every month at the Horseshoe Diner in Ravenna. We always welcome new volunteers and fresh ideas. We hope that everyone understands this decision and we hope to see you all at this year’s Ravenna Balloon A-Fair.