DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997                 TAG: 9704040204

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: SUFFOLK'S SPECTACULAR SPRING FESTIVAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   80 lines

SUFFOLK PILOT FINDS HER MOST IMPORTANT JOB IS ON GROUND DEBI LEE WARD IS COORDINATING THE ACTIVITIES FOR BALLOONISTS.

It took Debi Lee Ward two hours to travel a half mile from a Holland back yard to the Peanut Restaurant.

Flat tires? Flooded streets? Nope - no wind.

She wasn't down here, she was up there - way, way up.

``I went up to 6,000 feet looking for wind,'' said Ward, 46, Suffolk's self-proclaimed ``only balloonist.''

This summer she will offer rides to folks in the Suffolk-Franklin area.

She will be a partner with Balloon Promotions, the Gloucester-based company that is bringing balloonists from here, there and everywhere to the Suffolk Spring Spectacular's balloon fest.

Ironically, Ward will be grounded for the festival because her new balloon will not be ready. Besides, she is involved in helping to organize the colorful event.

Ward is assisting balloonmeister, Rene Meier, in planning the balloon-related events, and organizing the twice a day pilot briefings.

She is also supervising volunteers, and assigning them jobs.

It's the first balloon festival for Suffolk, but not for Ward.

``I've been to fests in Hershey, Jacksonville, Fla., all over the East Coast,'' she said, ``and in Albuquerque.''

The New Mexico gathering is the breathtaking, hard-to-describe balloon biggie.

``Oh my God,'' Ward gushes. ``It's the most unbelievable experience. The sky is as full as far as you can see. It's overwhelming, overpowering. There's no way to describe what it's like to see 850 balloons.''

You won't see quite that many in Suffolk but, hey, this is only the first attempt. About 40 balloons are participating.

Ward can't remember the year she fell in love with balloons.

``I just always thought - they're absolutely the most wonderful things,'' she said.

Ward's hot-air affair took flight, figuratively, not literally, in September 1991.

``That's when my dream came true. Rene was my pilot,'' she said, referring to her partner-to-be, Rene Meier, owner of Balloon Promotions.

Ward is already a balloon promoter: ``Riding in a balloon comes as close to being able to float on a cloud as anything you can do. You get the most beautiful picture of the world. You don't see the trash, the garbage.''

She is familiar with those subjects. She owns Suffolk Maid Brigade.

Ward enjoys her work, but prefers not being grounded.

``I'd fly every day if weather and my schedule permitted,'' she said. ``I do like to fly once a week.''

Ward flew Dream Catcher, a used balloon she bought in 1995.

``I sold it recently because it could only carry me and one passenger. I wanted to carry others. My new one carries four,'' said Ward, who will christen it prior to flight.

New balloons usually cost between $12,000 and $14,000, but can go even higher.

Before she could get balloon-high, Ward took the required lessons in the skies above Gloucester and Suffolk, noting that ``when crops are harvested in Suffolk, there's all kinds of landing space.

``It's not all fun and games, though. When you're flying a balloon, you're responsible for where it goes, what it does,'' she said. ``You have to concentrate. Safety is always first.

``A lot of folks - when they see a balloon coming down, they think it's crashing,'' Ward said, ``but it is very much a controlled landing.''

Wherever she lands, her ground crew is usually there to help deflate the balloon and get her back home.

``My major crew members are my best friend, Brenda Darden and my daughter, Kristi,'' Ward said. ``My son, Joey, helps - so do my sisters Pat and Kathy, and my brother-in-law, Ed Marston.''

One of her biggest supporters, an important ground crew member, is her 76-year-old father, Wilkerson Holland.

``The first thing I ever saw about balloons were pictures of masses of them,'' Ward said. ``Awesome. Every time I saw a balloon I declared - one day I'll take a flight.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Balloonist Debi Lee Ward of Suffolk is starting a business that will

offer balloon rides in the Suffolk-Franklin area.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu