RIDGWAY – This year’s Ballons’n’Varooms comes to town Friday, May 7-Sunday, May 9, with hot air balloons and classic cars teaming up in Hartwell Park Friday at 4 p.m. for the Show and Glow.

Among the cars on display will be a Lamborgini, alongside Ridgway’s Jack Fay’s 1962 Vette and Don Haskell’s in-progress 1930 Ford Tudor, as well as “streetrods, muscle cars, a 1970 Chicago police car, a James Dean “lookalike” Porsche, a “fabulous” Shelby GT 500, a Corvette Crazy Great Grandmother and much more,” says Festival Organizer Gary Woods.

The Strolling Scones take the stage at 5 p.m. to play their trademark “innovative and nostalgic music,” says Woods, while attendees nosh on everything from tacos to barbecue to fried chicken from local restaurateurs, with soft drinks and lemonade from the Solar Club and homemade desserts from 4-H.

The Ridgway Elks Lodge will serve a variety of beers, including Ridgway-brewed Colorado Boy, and KYRD FM radio’s Rocko will announce winners of valuable door prizes throughout the evening.

At 8 p.m., the People’s Choice Awards will be presented by C.W. McCall; then, as darkness falls, hot-air balloons will rise and glow.

On Saturday, early risers can catch the pilot briefing on Remax Field, at the junction of highways 62 and 550, and watch as balloons take off, at 7 a.m., weather permitting, to travel over Ridgway and beyond. The Remax balloon will remain tethered, on the ground, for rides.

At 12 p.m., the Strolling Scones come onstage once again; the day wraps up at 3 p.m., with the presentation of awards made by Billings Artwork, producers of the Grammy Awards.

On Sunday, the balloons will launch again, this time at 6:30 a.m., after the 6 a.m. pilot briefing.

Door prizes for the event including a custom-made silver bracelet from San Juan Jewelry’s David Houtz, handblown-glass art from Cimarron Art Glass, hot-air balloon flights and lodging and dining certificates. “We are proud to offer Balloons’n’Varoooms as a family-oriented event with all the sights and sounds absolutely free for spectators,” says Woods.

Admission to all events are free to spectators – “Just what the doctor ordered in these slow economic times,” said Woods. He also reminds attendees that “all balloon activities are weather permitting.”

For details and a schedule of events, visit www.ridgwaycolorado.com.