29-06-2025
Hot air balloon festival slammed by families – for having no balloons
A family festival promising live music and hot air balloon displays has been criticised by parents online as 'overcrowded' and 'overpriced' with 'overflowing rubbish bins' - as well as lacking any hot air balloons.
On its website, the Balloons and Beats Festival promised 'captivating hot air balloon displays', 'electrifying live music' and 'a thrilling celebration of family fun, infectious rhythms and captivating performances'.
Before its stops in Platt Fields Park yesterday and Friday (June 27 and 28) it had visited Nottingham and Wrexham, and over the summer will move to Salisbury, Hull, Chepstow and Birkenhead.
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Its press release in February was covered by the Manchester Evening News, BBC Manchester and Visit Manchester.
Holly Green said she paid £58 for a family ticket (two adults and two children) including parking yesterday (June 28). The M.E.N understands that family entry was later reduced to £22 on the door.
'We love festivals and we liked the idea of a festival in the city,' Holly told the M.E.N.
'It was billed as a great day out with monster truck displays and a kid's zone. It looked very relaxed and romantic in their ads.'
But Holly said the event didn't match what had been advertised. 'In reality it was just a noisy and overpriced funfair,' she said. 'We paid so much for entry but were charged £5 for rides on top of that.
'There was a ramp but no monster trucks or BMX displays – and there were no actual balloons, just baskets.'
Holly said staff on site told her that the balloon displays were 'weather permitting' and that they 'might' display at sunset. 'But sunset is at 10pm, and the event closes at 11, so who would still be out with their kids then?' she continued.
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the event told the Manchester Evening News: 'The balloon company we used does have permission to fly over Manchester. The balloons were ready, but the wind has to be in a certain direction for the balloons to fly.
'If the wind is more than 10 miles an hour then they can't go up. I understand people may be upset about this, but the tickets are sold saying the display is weather dependent.'
Holly continued: 'It was so overcrowded - I was worried what might happen with all these people squashed together.'
'There were very few food and drink vendors and easily a hundred people queueing at each one. We had water with us but if you didn't, you had to queue in the baking hot sun. It was appalling.'
The spokesperson for the event said: 'There was a water point at the side of the bar – I filled bottles up for free. There was signage for this so I'm sorry if people didn't see it.
'We did sell cans of water as Manchester City Council do not allow us to use or sell single-use plastic.'
'The event was organised by ticket and there weren't more people than we anticipated. It was just one of our normal, busy events.
'We have a security team who work out the numbers – we only sell the number of tickets that we're licensed for.'
Billed as being 'perfect' for music lovers, Holly was expecting to hear local artists. 'It was one little stage with tribute acts – and it was so packed that we couldn't get close enough to listen,' she said.
'There was meant to be a kids' zone but I saw no sign of that – just a 'foam party' but it was just one person spraying people with foam.
Holly said she and her family left after 20 minutes. 'We were extremely disappointed,' she said.
'I strongly feel that we were mis-sold and feel that we've been robbed of a sizable chunk of money. I feel horrified to think of all the other working families who also wasted their money.'
And she isn't alone in her experience. Comments seen by the Manchester Evening News posted to the Balloons and Beats Facebook page show other complaints.
'Misleading, extremely expensive with rubbish strewn everywhere,' wrote Renae Keegan. 'I paid £19.50 for two hot dogs and three cans of Coke. Hook-a-duck was £5 a go. A small slushie was £6.'
'What an absolute waste of money this was today,' wrote Gill Croft. 'No balloons, no monster trucks, £6.50 for an ice-cream, £5 for a fairground ride. Total rip off.'
'Left after 10 minutes - absolutely rubbish,' wrote Callum Shelmerdine. 'Half the stuff they say there is, isn't even there.'
'Nothing matched the promotional photos,' wrote YC Hung. 'You had to wait more than half an hour just to get a beer. The ground was full of rubbish and no-one was cleaning up.
'It doesn't make sense to have no balloons at a balloon festival,' wrote Alex Pan. 'The images on the website are misleading – worst event I have been [to].'
One Reddit user compared it to stories that often crop up over the festive period: "when families [are] upset that the "Winter Wonderland" they were promised turns out to be a derelict carpark in Luton."
But not all the comments were negative. "Event was fantastic," wrote Mark Crain. "Acts were really good - never expected balloons because I have a brain and realized it was probably too windy, but overall we had a lovely day
The spokesperson for the event continued: 'When the balloons are unavailable, we try to make sure that there is enough on site; we have BMX displays, kids entertainers, characters and tribute acts performing all day.
'We feel that the tribute acts, staging and production alone represents value for money without the children's entertainment, meet and greets and stunt shows.
'We have seen a lot of AI imagery floating around on social media but none of this is from our website.
'We do monster trucks at some of our events but it was never advertised for this event. If it was advertised as such then it may have been a mistake.
'We let trading pitches but we do not set individual trader prices. We make sure we have affordable options available at our own catering units.
'It was a busy event so there will be a lot of rubbish. We have a litter company that clears the site of litter every night and at intervals throughout the day.
'We had around 5,500 people on the site. Unfortunately the ones that were happy don't leave reviews.'
