`HAGAR THE HORRIBLE' TAKES ON `THE TYLER ROSE'

The sky over Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport this weekend will be cloaked in the brilliant hues of dozens of giant hot air balloons.

Balloon pilots from throughout the nation will be coming to the area for Balloon Fest 1994. The event, sponsored by the Missouri Council on the Arts, begins Friday evening with tethered balloon rides at the airport and ends Sunday morning with an awards ceremony at the Runway Restaurant in the airport terminal building. In between is your best bet for family recreation this weekend.

The festival, with free admission and parking, also will include free-fall skydivers, who will drop on the airport at noon Friday to preface Balloon Fest. Other activities are tethered balloon rides, weather permitting, a dusk balloon glow, a pancake breakfast Saturday, arts and crafts booths and food concessions, and static display of numerous aircraft. Also, the Confederate Air Force will arrive at the site Saturday morning.

Three hot air balloon competitions, though, will highlight the festival. The first is scheduled to start at 6 a.m. Saturday, the second at 6 p.m. Saturday and the third at 6 a.m. Sunday. Forty-five hot air balloon specialists will test their skills piloting balloons with names as colorful as the crafts: "Hagar the Horrible," "Gone With The Wind," and "The Tyler Rose," to name a few.

City officials welcome the festival, which is in its third consecutive year, because it gives them an opportunity to showcase the Municipal Airport with people unaccustomed to visiting the facility. We look forward to Balloon Fest 1994, and encourage those able to stop by and enjoy the activities. If you can't make it to the airport, cast your eyes skyward from time to time. It should be a fine site.