This weekend is the annual Monroe Balloon Fest, and I am a happy camper.

As a wee lad back in the late 1980s, I remember my parents lugging my older brother and I around to help crew for the balloon rally, which conveniently always falls on the weekend of my birthday. When Honda stepped in and Green County was the host of an international competition, the World Honda Grand Prix, we continued helping crew and host pilots — the Japanese pilot whose family stayed in our home took my younger brother and I for a few rides one year, including one in which we landed in our backyard — this pilot set off near the border, navigated the winds perfectly and landed the hot air balloon 50 feet from our swing set. I was pretty impressed as a teenager, to say the least.

After my first daughter was born, we would anxiously hope and wait each morning to see if the weather was good enough to see those human-passenger lanterns cross the sky. The sound of the fire blowing overhead always brings a smile to my face.

Weather is the key here. For the last decade, the Father’s Day weekend has not been ideal weather-wise. The night glow is always fun to take the kids to, but I know my 7-year-old son desperately wants to see the balloons in flight. I know I sure do.

If you can stop on down to the Green County Fairgrounds for any of the events — music, food, balloon glow — please do. It’s a great family event and will fill the kids’ memory banks. Not all of us make the treks to Albuquerque, Arizona, California or other locations with bigger balloon rallies, though that would be fun, so we have to settle for what we get. And if the weather cooperates, what we’ll get is a really fun weekend of good food, good music, and something other than crows cawing above the trees.

— Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Times and intends on enjoying a few cool brews this weekend. He can be reached at akrebs@themonroetime.net.