The National Balloon Museum is a non-profit museum in

Indianola, Iowa Indianola is a city in Warren County, Iowa, United States, located south of downtown Des Moines, Iowa. The population was 15,833 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Warren County. Indianola is home to the National Balloon ...

. It was founded in 1975 in short term locations, later gaining a permanent location in 1988. All of the museum's exhibits are about

hot air ballooning Hot air ballooning is the activity of flying hot air balloons. Attractive aspects of ballooning include the exceptional quiet (except when the propane burners are firing), the lack of a feeling of movement, and the bird's-eye view. Since the b ...

and

gas balloon A gas balloon is a balloon that rises and floats in the air because it is filled with a gas lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). When not in flight, it is tethered to prevent it from flying away and is sealed at the bottom to prevent t ...

ing. The museum is in the shape of a hot air balloon's

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...

. There are only two balloon museums within the United States, the other one being the

Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum The Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum is a museum dedicated to the worldwide history, science, and art of all types of ballooning and lighter-than-air flight. It is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and is situate ...

History

The National Hot Air Balloon Championship preliminaries were held in Indianola in 1970. Due to the success of the competition, the championships started happening every year which led to exhibits being created yearly for the competition. However, the exhibits could only be put up temporarily. The short term exhibits created a need for a museum where they can be stored year round. The exhibits are from the Balloon Federation of America, covering over 200 years of history. Included in the museum's collection is the first hot air balloon that crossed the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. Located within the museum is the U.S. Ballooning Hall of Fame, a children's area and a library. The children's area has photo shoots and books about ballooning. All of the museum's workers are volunteers. 24,000 people visit the museum each year, with the visitors coming from twenty countries. The museum has hosted a nine day long festival, titled the National Balloon Classic, yearly in late July since 1989. A large donation was received to continue the museum's operation in 2015. The donation was left in a will and was in a large unspecified amount.

References

External links

Official websiteIndianola: Ballooning Capital of Iowa
{{authority control Indianola, Iowa Museums in Warren County, Iowa Museums established in 1975 1975 establishments in Iowa Ballooning museums Aerospace museums in Iowa Balloons (aeronautics)