The New Jersey Lottery will serve as the new title sponsor for the annual New Jersey Festival of Ballooning.
The festival will continue to take place at the Solberg Airport in Readington Township as part of a multi-year agreement that was announced by Executive Producer of the balloon festival, Howard Freeman, and Executive Director of the New Jersey Lottery, Jim Carey, at the Lottery’s Lawrence Park Complex in Trenton on Friday morning. This year’s festival takes place from from July 24 to 26.
Freeman said without the sponsorship of the New Jersey Lottery, which has served as a partner of the event for 20 years, the festival “would not be here in the state anymore.
“We are incredibly excited to continue this,” Freeman said. “We’ve had pilots from 40 different states, five different countries last year. We’ve had people come from every state, probably 50 different countries. So as a result of New Jersey Lottery, it’s going to stay here.”
Carey called the festival “an iconic New Jersey event” that would serve as a “great platform” to celebrate the Lottery’s 50th anniversary this year.
“It provides the Lottery with a great venue and a great opportunity to promote our fun and exciting brand and our fun and exciting games,” Carey said. "This is a great opportunity for us to remind the people of New Jersey that we’re out there.”
An 80-foot tall anniversary cake will serve as this year’s signature shape hot air balloon in the festival in honor of the Lottery’s 50th anniversary.
The 2020 festival was at risk of being canceled after QuickChek announced in early October that after 26 years it would no longer serve as the event’s title sponsor.
After over a week of negotiations, the group behind the balloon festival posted a notice on its website on Feb. 12 revealing that it secured a new title sponsor.
Tickets for the festival go on sale at noon on Friday. Those who subscribe to receive email alerts through the website will receive a special deal through to next week, according to Freeman.
Those who go to the festival with a non-winning scratch-off New Jersey Lottery ticket can receive a $5 discount at the festival on the night of July 24 or before noon on July 25 and 26, Freeman added.
The New Jersey Lottery is the third-oldest lottery in the United States, and one of the largest lotteries in the world, according to Lottery officials.
Last year’s balloon festival, billed as the largest summertime hot air balloon and music festival in North America, drew a record crowd of approximately 169,500 people, contributing roughly $52.4 million to the state’s economy, according to festival organizers.
https://www.nj.com/news/2020/02/new-jersey-lottery-named-as-new-title-sponsor-of-giant-nj-balloon-festival.html