Explore Okoboji
Listen Now! music notes icon
Listen! music notes icon 77° sun icon
  • Home
  • News
  • A Close Call After A Hot Air Balloon Goes Down In Brown’s Bay Of West Lake Okoboji

A Close Call After A Hot Air Balloon Goes Down In Brown’s Bay Of West Lake Okoboji

September 18, 2023 Steve Schwaller

(West Okoboji)– A close call Sunday evening for a hot air balloon that went down in Brown’s Bay of West Okoboji. Leslie Whitehair lives in that area. She witnessed the incident and tells KUOO news the balloonist got into trouble after the wind completely died…

“It seemed to be fine at first and then it got lower and lower and we figured that he couldn’t move only but up and down. The wind was gone and he wasn’t going to go anywhere, so we figured out he was in trouble.”

Fortunately, Whitehair says a boater happened to be in that area…

“The gentleman in the balloon started calling the other boat over and kind of crying out help us please yells. We could hear it all the way into the middle of the lake because there was no wind at all, and there was a boat that responded to him and came over and threw him a line and pulled him to shore.”

Whitehair says the balloon was towed to the Terrace Park area.

She says she doesn’t know who the boater was or the name of the two people who were in the balloon.

Leslie gave us permission to share her video. You can view it by clicking here.

(Photo and video courtesy Leslie Whitehair)

Back to News