Visit Gering

08/16/2026

08/16/2026

What a beautiful morning!

08/16/2026

Be sure to watch the skies over Gering this morning… the balloons are taking off at Five Rocks. 🥰

Today is a free fly for our pilots! Taking off from 5 Rocks now!

08/14/2026

Be sure to join us in the Gering Plaza tonight for the FREE Community Event celebrating My Town and the Old West Balloon Fest.

🎉 TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT! 🎉

My Town: The Celebration is finally here, and we cannot wait to celebrate Western Nebraska with all of you!

This special evening would not be possible without an incredible lineup of entertainers, vendors, organizations, and community partners. Please join us in thanking:

🎸 Loaded Dice
🎤 Donny O & the Troublemakers
🎈 Old West Balloon Fest
🍺 Scott Free Brewing Company
🎈 Alpacaglobo Balloons
🍋 Lemon Love
🍦 Dairy King
🌭 Mike's Wild Dogs
🌮 Rosita's
💙 Visit Gering
🎥 My Town and its INCREDIBLE crew

The My Town crew has spent the last few days capturing the people, places, businesses, and stories that make Western Nebraska so special. We are incredibly grateful they chose our region and gave us this opportunity to show everyone why we are so proud to call it home.

Now it is time to celebrate together! Bring the whole family for live music, local food and drinks, balloon twisting, tethered hot air balloon rides, glow sticks for the first 100 kids, and plenty of Western Nebraska fun.

📅 TONIGHT, Friday, August 14
⏰ 6 to 9 p.m.
📍 Gering Plaza

Come help us give the My Town crew a true Western Nebraska welcome and make this a night to remember! 💙

Tethered hot air balloon rides are weather permitting.

08/14/2026

It’s a beautiful day for a hot air balloon launch!!

🎈Update from the Old West Balloon Fest Mitchell Airfield!🎈
Old West Balloon Fest pilots are launching!
The US Competition has a target on the field at Mitchell Airfield! Come enjoy the fun!

08/13/2026

An update from the Old West Balloon Fest.

🎈 A Weather Update from OWBF

We know everyone is watching the weather—and so are we!

When conditions aren’t safe, we have to make the tough decision to cancel. We want to fly just as much as you want to see the balloons, but safety always comes first.

We are working closely with Don Day, meteorologist and official weather advisor for the U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championships, who is also advising us for OWBF. We are using the best information available to make informed decisions.

And there is hope! 🎈 Don is seeing some openings in the weather pattern for our weekend events. While we can’t guarantee flying yet, we are watching those windows closely and remain hopeful.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate Mother Nature. ❤️

Keep looking up! 🎈

08/13/2026

🎈 Wondering where the Competition balloons will launch? Here’s the scoop! 🎈
The U.S. Hot Air Nationals is an exciting competition because so much of it is determined by the weather, conditions and the pilots’ decisions in the moment.

This morning we dealt with fog and moisture and this evening forecasted storms. Launch sites and targets are selected based on the conditions leading up to each flight. For competition, pilots must launch at least one mile from their first target, so launch locations are not always the same common launch areas used on previous days. In many cases, the launch site is the pilot’s choice.

If there is a common launch area, we will do our best to advertise it ahead of time. Otherwise, the launch location will be determined by each pilot. Once information is finalized, we’ll get it posted here on Facebook as quickly as we can. There is a lot happening behind the scenes as everyone works to get the competition underway, so thank you for your patience!

We are so excited to have everyone here and to share this incredible competition with you! 🎈

08/12/2026

What a phenomenal response to the Old West Balloon Fest window decorating contest! Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all the participating businesses for creating such a wonderfully creative way to welcome the pilots and visitors to our area!