Is it only in Florida that a hot air balloon festival includes a stolen balloon?
A Florida sheriff’s office strolled through a hot-air balloon festival looking for a balloon stolen from 900 miles away. And deputies found it.
“For the first time in our 175 years of existence, we recovered a stolen hot air balloon!” the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday on Facebook.
The police department in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University’s main campus, told MCSO it needed help. Someone saw a hot air balloon stolen from the Bloomington area. They spotted it at The Villages Hot Air Balloon Festival, held Friday at Ocala’s Florida Horse Park.
That sent deputies checking out festival balloons — until they found the one rather colorful one pictured.
How the balloon got down to Florida wasn’t released.
“The owner didn’t want to press charges and just wanted his hot air balloon back,” the sheriff’s office said.
So, with the help of a tow truck, the balloon is being schlepped back north to the owner.
This story was originally published March 24, 2019 at 3:18 PM.
