High in the Texas Sky

Your guide to the big balloon festival that lights up Plano in September

The balloons launch two times during the festival.

Photo courtesy of Visit Plano

For the past 42 years, thousands of spectators have been turning up to The H-E-B Central Market Plano Balloon Festival to watch hot-air balloons soar through the sky, while also enjoying live music and entertainment, kids' activities, and tons of food and drink.

If attending this four-day festival, held this year from September 21-24 at Oak Point Park/Red Rail Pavilion in Plano, is on your must-do list, here's everything you need to know before you go.

The basics
The festival launches its balloons two times over the weekend, weather permitting. The larger-than-life creations go up on Saturday and Sunday at 7 am.

Start the day watching the balloons get inflated or wind down with the Balloon Glow, when the balloons are lit from within against the evening sky.

Tickets
General admission tickets are $10, senior age 65 and older and kids 3-12 years old are $5, and tots 36 inches and smaller are free.

The festival is going cashless this year, and the admission gate, parking, and Kids Fun Zone ticket booth will only accept debit, credit, and Apply Pay.

Parking
Prime parking (at three nearby locations) is $15, and off-site parking at the Plano Event Center is $10. If you don't want to stress about driving, it's a wise idea to carpool, ride-share, or take the DART.

Where to stay
There are several nearby hotels, some which might even be offering festival packages and specials. Head here to see all your options.

What to eat
There will be more than a wide variety of food and beverage vendors on-site offering uplifting menu items like fresh-squeezed lemonade, funnel cakes, turkey legs, kettle corn, burgers, smoothies, gelato, and more. You can even purchase beer, hard seltzer, and wine spritzers this year.

Venture outside the park, and you can sample Plano's ever-growing culinary scene. From downtown to the Shops at Legacy, the Shops at Willow Bend to Legacy West, you'll find hundreds of tasty options for every palate.

For the kids
The Kids Fun Zone will have obstacle courses, huge slides, a pirate ship to scale, and the "berry-go-round" to ride, along with a crafts area, face painting, and the Plano Symphony Orchestra Instrument Area.

There's even a toddler zone designed with the littles in mind. Rides vary in price from $2.50-$5, and all-day wristbands are available for $20.

How to ride
Fancy going up in the air yourself? Book a tethered balloon ride and hover 20-30 feet above the ground for several minutes.

Approximately 10-12 people can go up at one time (depending on weight and at the pilot's discretion) and tickets are available onsite in cash only. Adults cost $30 per ride, kids 6-12 only $20. No one under the age of six is allowed to ride.

What else to do
Of course the balloons are the main attraction, but there's a lot on the docket besides watching this kaleidoscope of color soar through the sky.

The RE/MAX of Texas parachute team will land right in the middle of the launch field on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 6 pm, followed by a spectacular fireworks show those evenings. Live music and local performances will take place all weekend.

Click here to plan your trip.

festivals promoted

Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."