As the 47th annual Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair Festival approaches in the early fall, the Ravenna community will once again have a chance to make a financial contribution toward the operating costs by attending a Western Dance Party sponsored by the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair which will be hosted by the Ravenna Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1055 on Feb. 28 at Veterans New Milford Road beginning at 6 p.m.
“We are very excited,” Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair President Sean Short told The Weekly Villager on Feb 12. “This event is always a fun time. It is our annual fundraising event, and we always have a blast and look forward to it.”
According to Short, the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair has hosted an annual fundraising dance in the early winter for the last 10 years to help raise money toward the overall operating costs of the cherished Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair festival. He added that the Board has usually selected a different theme each year and for the 2026 dance, they decided to host a dance with a wild west theme.
Short said that the money raised each year has helped go a long way toward the total operating costs that the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair incurs to host the annual festival.
“We like to put on things for the community to enjoy and to just get people to come in and have a good time and get the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair name out there,” he added. “People who may have never heard about our festival may see this dance, come to it and learn about what we offer.”
All interested residents can attend the event by paying a $10 entrance fee at the door, and can enjoy a night filled with different activities, including limbo and hula hoop contests.
In addition to some contests on the dance floor, there will also be a photo booth, a 50/50 raffle drawing with the prizes being gift baskets from local businesses. Short said that Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair has donated a gift basket to the selection of prizes this year, with its gift basket including two free helicopter rides, free tethered hot air balloon rides and two passes for the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair Festival in September.
Entertaining the crowd will be DJ Brandon Brooks, of Brooks Music.
“It will be a lot of fun dance music like the Cha-cha-cha slide, the Cupid Shuffle, and Electric Slide and fun dances like that which will get people up and moving and participating,” said Short. “He takes requests so if somebody wants to hear a certain song, they can request it from him, and he does a great job of keeping everybody on the dance floor.”
The Ravenna VFW Post 1055 will also offer a cash bar to all attendees, and the money collected will be donated to the Ravenna VFW.
Short said that the Ravenna VFW Post 1055 has become a popular site for the Ravenna Ballon-A-Fair’s annual dance parties for the last several years.
“It has been very good,” Short said of the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair’s growing partnership with the Ravenna VFW Post 1055. “It is a local venue that hosts us for what we need and are very accommodating.”
Short also spoke highly of how the organization has demonstrated creativity with another uniquely themed dance party, and it is also reflected in how the attendees usually dress to accommodate each year’s theme, with this year’s theme encouraging residents to wear wild western-themed attire.
“I think people actually look forward to this now every year,” he said. “Before we even had the planning finished this year, people were reaching out asking ‘What is the theme for this year’s dance’ and we were like ‘Well we have not gotten there yet, we will get there.’ When we have our community meeting people are excited about it and reaching out and asking questions about when the dance is before we even have the date set in stone, so it has piqued the interest in a lot of people.”
Short also spoke how the growing interest in the annual dance fundraiser has also shown how much the community values the Ravenna Balloon-A-Fair, which enters its 47th year of existence.
“It means a lot to the City of Ravenna and the surrounding communities,” Short said. “We are a 100% volunteer organization. We do it out of passion and just to offer something great for the community and I love seeing the tradition that I grew up with keep growing and I just want to keep it moving on throughout the years.”
