From the editor:

A general meeting of the newly formed Minnesota Ballooning Association was held at the Hudson Hot Air Affair in Hudson, WI on Sunday Feb. 7 and judging by the attendance, the organization is healthy and robust! Offices are being filled, committees formed and ideas are forming at an encouraging rate.

A number of new members signed up at the meeting, showing us all that this organization's time has come. We're all hopeful that the membership will continue to grow in the future. Remember that the MBA is open to ANYONE who is interested in ballooning, not just pilots. So crewmembers should be encouraged to join as well as pilots. In future issues of the newsletter, I will have a membership column to list new members and total membership to date.

This, the first issue of the MBA Newsletter, is a creation of only one contributor, namely me! My hopes for the future are that we will have columns from a number of regular contributors and articles from throughout the membership. In my view, this should be an open forum for anyone in the MBA to voice opinions, experiences, information on events, etc., etc.. The list is as limitless as our imaginations.

If you have an experience you want to share, positive OR negative, send it in. If you have a story you want to tell, fiction OR non-fiction, send it in. If you have a good joke to tell (within the boundaries of good taste) send it in. If you just want to write a letter to the editor for ANY reason, do so. The ONLY way to make this is a first rate newsletter is to make sure I'm not the only contributor!!

Like any organization, the MBA needs a good logo. Above is my entry for your appraisal. I feel strongly that the logo should not represent any one make of balloon. Nor should it focus on any particular part of the state. This organization belongs to us all, no matter what we fly, no matter where we live. I also feel that a logo should be simple and easy to recognize. So....that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I know Ruth Gruba is working on a logo and I sincerely hope that more of you will do the same so we can have a number of entries to vote on. Maybe we'll even come up with a composite of several different logos...who knows? Participation creates choices!

Well, folks that's all for this month.

So, blue skies and happy landings to all!

Regards from Sam Who?

The MBA has had a website for almost a year now but it has been difficult to access and slow to load, so I have shut it down for now and am in the process of overhauling it. My goal is to make the website simpler and easy to use. Fewer bells and whistles and more functionality!

We're looking into purchasing our own domain to make the site easier to find and I'll be sure to publish the new address as soon as we get one! For now, the web address is :

Now you can see why it's a little hard to find!!

The website should be up and running again in a week or two. And just as a reminder, the website also belongs to all of us! Please feel free to send ideas , comments, etc., to me. Thanks for your patience.

In a symbolic gesture of good faith, Matt Wiederkehr passed along the gavel that has presided over various balloon club/organization meetings practically since the dawn of ballooning in Minnesota. One needs only to stop and think for a second to realize what an honor this is for us, coming from one of the true pioneers in modern hot air ballooning and one of the most well known and respected balloonists in the region, if not the entire country.

There are many of us flying today, myself included, that may not be fully educated on the subject of ballooning history in Minnesota but it is undeniable that for about as long as hot air balloons have been flying in Minnesota, Matt has been there helping to bring the sport to where it is today! We thank you for your efforts and achievements, Matt and hope to prove worthy of your confidence!

The next MBA meeting will be held on March 15th at the Washburn Library, 52nd & Lyndale Ave. South, in Minneapolis from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Come if you can and remember, if you can't make it and have some input for the meeting; email your input to:

mnbal@hotmail.com

by the Friday before the meeting. You WILL be heard!

President - George Ibach

Vice President - Dave Johnson

Secretary - Gary Gruba

Treasurer - Glen Terry

Junior Balloonist Program - Kevin Knapp

Ground School Division - Luke Cesnik

Social Directors - Becky Pope & Cindy Holton

Webmaster & Newsletter Editor - Sam Blackburn

Send your ideas, articles, photos or any other contributions for the newsletter or website to:

Sam Blackburn

3019 Knoll Lane NW

Rochester, MN 55901-1492

OR

samwho@hotmail.com