By resource: ...e-news ...eye-catcher ...insight ...workroom product photos
By interest: ...workroom tour
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Back in May of 1994 I still had the status of "newcomer" at Stevenson Vestal, working as one of only two Customer Service Representatives. Back then the company had only about half as many employees and half as much building square footage as today in 2006.
One Morning in May
One Saturday I got up at O-Dark-Thirty with my wife and two children to go "balloon chasing" at the annual hot air balloon festival at our nearby local airport. We sat in the car on a side road in full view of the airport and munched on blueberry muffins and sipped juice from boxes, waiting for the mass ascension. The balloons inflated and inflated and INFLATED and finally went up almost as one, in a thick clot of colors, and started to drift away on the morning breeze. I started the car and the chase began.
Strange backyards and a familiar field
We headed down a rural road, craning our necks out the windows to keep track of the escaping balloons. Other cars and official chase vehicles joined the pursuit. In previous years we had chased the balloons to their landing spots in fields and back yards. The homeowners in their bathrobes always looked surprised but pleased by the sudden goings-on. Usually I would discover neighborhoods I hadn't known about. This year, however, the winds of fate took thirty five hot air balloons somewhere I knew very well. To my surprise, we followed the slanting diagonal path of balloons in the air and the straight path of cars in front of us until we turned into Hanford Road. The photos here capture this moment from a dozen years ago when a fleet of bright orbs floated over the SV building in it's former, smaller, incarnation, two building expansion projects ago.
Believe it or not
To my delight, the balloon in the lead that morning chose the large field opposite the Stevenson Vestal building to set down and lay out his target for the "hare and hounds" competition they had planned. Each balloon in turn came as close as they could to the target and dropped a marker to see who could hit the bulls-eye. Most of the balloons ended up landing on the far side of the target in that same large field that still stands green and empty and inviting in front of our building today. The next Monday I told my boss, Dave S., that thirty five hot air balloons had flown very low right over the building and he smiled. I don't know for sure if he really believed me. Luckily, I recently pulled these photos out of the shoe box where they had resided all these years. I guess he'll have to believe me now!
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