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Coffee with Mayor Tracy Welch Part Two
Balloons WILL BE present at Balloons Over 66 Weekend
[June 08, 2026]
Forty minutes into the two-hour
meeting Saturday morning, talk turned to tourism and the recent
announcement by Seth Goodman that the balloon portion of the
Balloons Over 66 Weekend had been cancelled. Welch said that it has
been quite a week, which was following on the heals of another tough
week prior. He explained that while he and others had worked last
week, including Saturday, on fine lining some of the details of the
Lincoln College sale, they had taken a breather on Sunday then woke
Monday morning to news about Goodman’s announcement.
Welch said first he wanted to make a couple of things perfectly
clear. He said that he and Goodman have been friends for several
years, Goodman got Welch interested in ballooning and Welch is now a
balloon owner. Welch said that Goodman brought the Balloons Over 66
weekend to Lincoln after the Lincoln and Logan County Chamber of
Commerce folded and that he did so with his personal money. He said
Goodman’s decision had a lot more to do with liability than he had
said in his announcement. Welch explained that there had been a
complaint filed last year about balloons flying in Logan County
Airport air space, and that had brought the liability issues into
full focus. Welch said he felt that Goodman’s announcement was
justifiable.
He went on to say that there was a three-year period after COVID
when the city had American Recovery Plan Act funds and contributed
$50,000 per year to local events. He said the balloon portion of
Balloons Over 66 got $15k per year, the BBQ got $15k, the Logan
County Young Professionals network got $10k for the weekend
entertainment, and the Railsplitter committee got $10k.
Welch said he did not know Goodman was going to make the
announcement, and Welch started receiving calls and emails almost
instantly. For the weekend event there is a committee of the whole
made up of organizers from each faction of the event. Before the day
was out, that committee was called together and discussion began
immediately on how to move forward.
Welch said in his opinion the event
was too important to let any part of it die without doing everything
possible to keep it going. Having said that, he added that he
personally hasn’t done anything noteworthy. The salvation of the
balloon portion of the event can only be attributed to three
individuals, Kent and Kari Froebe and Mike Workman. Those three are
the administrators of the John Welsh Memorial Tournament, a junior
high school basketball tournament held annually in Lincoln. The
three made a quick decision and came forward with what Welch termed
as a “significant donation” from tournament proceeds, specifically
to be used for the return of the hot air balloons.
Welch said discussions took place and other pools of money were
identified, and soon it became the consensus of the committee that
there could indeed be a balloon portion again this year at least.
Welch said there is going to be a 501c3 formed so as to accept
charitable donations, and that others will be sought out for
donations. He added that anyone who wants to donate now can do so,
and they will receive a document verifying the donation, then with
the 501c3 comes in there will be additional documentation provided.
Welch said that he has nothing to do with the money, he doesn’t want
people bring him personal checks for the event. At the same time,
for the sake of full disclosure, his wife Annette is working with
the financial aspects and will take donations. He added that there
is a new bank account opened at Heartland Bank, and anyone wishing
to give can take their money directly to the bank and it will be
properly handled by those staff members.
Kevin Bateman was in attendance at the meeting and spoke not as an
alderman, but as a member of the overall committee and organizer of
the Up in Smoke BBQ portion. He said he doesn’t think anyone
realizes just how much money it takes to do that one weekend event.
He said upward of $75 to $80,000 are conservative numbers for the
full event.
Welch went on to say that while the balloons are back it won’t be
the same. After the announcement, many of the balloonists who were
slated to come quickly found other places to go that weekend.
Welch said right now the community can expect perhaps 10 balloons at
the glow on Friday night and 10 on Saturday night. He said the
pilots will make their own decisions about flights. Both glows will
still be held at Open Arms Church in Lincoln.
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The question was
posed whether the new city Department of Tourism could lend
financial support in coming years. Welch said that he and
Director of Tourism Scott McCoy, who was also in attendance on
Saturday, began speaking about this more than three months ago,
and yes, the weekend long festival is a tourist activity and
yes, the city tourism department hopes to be involved in future
events.
Talk went on about how tourism is ultimately an economic driver
in communities, bringing visitors who spend dollars in local
stores, restaurants and more. At the same time, the goal must
include registering overnight stays in local motels because that
is how the revenue for tourism is generated. Welch said that the
motels are proof that the Balloons Over 66 weekend “puts heads
in beds” thus generating tax revenue.
After sharing that there will be balloons at the weekend event,
talk segued into more about tourism activities.
Coming soon, the Railsplitter covered wagon is being moved from
its location on the Business 55 loop to the Lincoln Welcome Park
at the corner of Kickapoo and Pekin Streets downtown. Again,
this is a tourism move aimed at bringing people into the heart
of the city on Route 66.
The 1926 to 1930 installation of Route 66 comes into the heart
of the city via North Kickapoo Street, then turns right onto
Broadway Street and proceeds to North Logan. The wagon garners a
lot of attention in its current location, and the goal is to
bring all that attention downtown.
In addition to moving the wagon, the new LINCOLN letters that
are currently in the Mel-O-Cream parking lot will be moved to
the welcome park and the large donut will be moved closer to the
street but remain on Mel-O-Cream property. Welch said that both
the letters and the donut had been purchased via grant funds for
the Route 66 anniversary year.
An hour and 44 minutes into the meeting, Welch said that as
things developed this week, he knew that fire chief Ty Johnson
would probably not get much attention at this meeting. He said
he wanted the chief to have at least a few minutes before the
meeting ended. Johnson took it all in stride saying he too had
anticipated where the discussions would take the room. He added
that he will happily come back some other time at the invitation
of the mayor. Then he said that for the most part, when one
doesn’t hear anything from the fire department that is good
news, as that means there have been no terrible emergencies to
deal with.
Johnson said that he’s happy to see his department is now almost
fully staffed for the first time in several years. And he
reported that all total the department responds to about 3,000
calls a year.
In other comments, audience member Curt Fox said that the Logan
County Airport would be celebrating its milestone anniversary
this year and that special events were being planned for June
27th. He encouraged everyone to come out.
Welch announced that last year he had
been approached by Marilyn Craig who is a member of the Daughters of
the American Revolution. She had requested that the city host a July
4th parade in celebration of America’s 250th. Welch said the city
had agreed to do so, but right now the event is not looking too
promising. He said there have been only about 10 entries received.
He is hoping there will be more coming soon.
Anyone who wishes to make an entry for the parade can contact City
of Lincoln Administrative Assistant Ashley Metelko.
Look for the date of the next Coffee with the Mayor in the community
calendar of Lincoln Daily News.
[Nila Smith]
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