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Hope, Arkansas is a town of roughly 10,000 people, located in Hempstead county, in the western part of the state. During the World War II, Hope was home to the Southwestern Proving Grounds, a tract of land three miles wide and fifteen miles long where artillery shells and aerial bombs were tested. Hundreds of families had to be"relocated" (a favorite term of FDR's) from the farmland that that was seized by the government for the new facility. However, the Proving Grounds generated hundreds of jobs and brought some millions of dollars into the local economy, so on balance, the residents of Hope were not unhappy with the deal. After the war, the land was cleared of bombs and shells, and was sold back to public and private owners. To this day, unexploded ordnance is still occasionally found in the area. |
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Balloons of Hope is a balloon rally held in Hope each June, a fundraiser for Sentimental Journey, a group dedicated to preserving the history of the Southwestern Proving Grounds. I had heard of this event while attending a balloon rally in Texas, and there being only a few balloon festivals in Arkansas, I had hastened to get in touch with the festival organizers. They expressed interest, but arrangements proceeded at a leisurely pace -- my e-mails got forwarded to various people, eventually ending up with a lady named Pat Rhoads. Several months were spent finding a supplier for the helium, and another few months actually getting a price quote on the gas. By the time things were cleared with the FAA in Little Rock, it was late May, and I was already on the road trip that would end in June in Hope. |
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