Low-flying hot air balloons surprise residents last Saturday

Santa Paula residents were surprised last Saturday morning when three hot air balloons appeared over the city. The balloons took off early in the morning, but couldn’t enough of a breeze to travel very far, so all three began looking for places to land.  One came down on the Santa Paula High School football field, where a practice session was about to get underway.

Pilot Peggy Watson-Meinke said they were trying to fullfill flights promised for the recent Citrus Classic Balloon Festival.  Low clouds prevented most of the flights for that event.