Public admission is free of charge, and several activities take place during the weekend. Below a partial listing of events that are part of each year's Jubilee:[1]
Fireworks Extravaganza
Antique Tractor Show
Classic Car Show
Arts and Crafts
Live Stage Entertainment
Children's Area
Food and Merchandise Vendors
The Alabama Jubilee is unique in that it allows for the crowd of around 50,000 to mingle with pilots and crews, while 7-story tall balloons inflate and float overhead. The Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Classic consists of three different balloon events:[2]
A Hare & Hound Race
A Balloon Glow
A Circumnavigational Task
Tethered Balloon Rides
History
Hot air balloons inflating at the 2005 Alabama Jubilee
The Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Classic, one of the oldest hot-air balloon races in the mid-South, started in Decatur in 1978 with competition among 17 balloonists from Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. It was a showcase for the new Decatur balloon, one of the first to represent a city, and an event to kick off Alabama's tourism season. The Jubilee now draws, on average, about 60 pilots from some 20 states for two days of friendly competition during the annual Memorial Day holiday weekend.[citation needed]
The 2020 event went virtual, due to public gathering restrictions in Alabama caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The Ballooning Capital of Alabama"
The continued popularity of the Alabama Jubilee prompted the Alabama Legislature to designate the City of Decatur as the “Ballooning Capital of Alabama.”[citation needed]
The Alabama Jubilee is held on the grounds of Point Mallard Park, a municipal recreation complex that offers a 35-acre (140,000 m2) water park featuring an aquatic center with a wave pool, Olympic-sized swimming pools, lazy river, and several water slides, as well as tennis courts, ball fields, hiking trails, campground, 18-hole championship golf course, indoor ice skating rink and recreation center.[citation needed]
