Bristol Fiesta 2020 Dates Announced Following Disappointing 2019

Bristol Fiesta Looks To 2020 Following Disappointing Weather

Bristol Fiesta 2020 will quickly sneak up on us despite being 12 months away. Bristol Fiesta is commonly the biggest event in the UK ballooning calendar; however, this year’s event was badly affected by adverse weather conditions, much like the 2018 event. The opening day of the festival was a roaring success which saw the morning mass ascent and evening night glow take place to the delight of the packed crowd. However, this was not a reoccurring theme throughout the remainder of the festival.

The following seven mass ascents were cancelled by the meteorologists due to strong gusts and heavy rainfall. The weather was deemed a safety concern on Saturday which resulted in the entire site at Ashton Court being closed to the public. Unfortunately, bad weather has hampered the success of the previous two Fiestas which has urged the public to ask why the event isn’t moved into the middle of summer.

Why Don’t They Move The Bristol Fiesta Date For 2020?

The organisers of the Fiesta have been bombarded with comments asking why the Fiesta has not been moved to a date with more reliable weather. However, Chris Allcock (chairman of the organising committee) stated that the event would not be moved despite the recent adverse weather conditions.

“While we truly appreciate how disappointing this weekend has been for our visitors, traders and the team personally, the weather is an entity that is entirely out of our control”

“Moving the date would not be a guaranteed way of overcoming the challenges we’ve faced this year as the weather is never a certainty”

“Although the last two years have been difficult, it was only a few years ago the balloons flew in every one of the seven scheduled mass ascents for the first time in the event’s history”

“Operationally hosting the event earlier in the year wouldn’t work as we would inevitably compete with other balloon meets around the world and due to daylight hours we’d be looking at mass ascents taking place as early as 4.30am and Night Glows needing to take place as late as 10.30pm”

The organising committee are optimistic for the years ahead and hope that next years weather will be much better!