Overview The Tigard Festival of Balloons fills Cook Family Park in Tigard, Oregon, with about 20 hot air balloons on the last full weekend of June, and the day starts in the dark: gates open at 5 a.m. and the balloons launch around 5:45 each morning. They come back after sunset for the Night Glow, lit up and set to music, on Friday and Saturday. The 2026 edition marked 42 years, under the theme Growing Our Legacy. The festival is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, run largely by volunteers, about 10 miles southwest of downtown Portland. On site Spectators stand close to the balloons while the crews inflate them on the main field. Up to four balloons tether there each morning and give free rides, about 1,000 over the weekend by the festival's count, and from 2026 guests could also book a full sunrise flight over the Willamette Valley. Between launches the park runs a Funtastic carnival, artisan and food booths, a beer and wine area, two Kids Zones and a Main Stage that carried seven concerts in 2026. Sunday adds the Festival of Cars, a show of classics, muscle cars and hot rods from around the Pacific Northwest. The pancake breakfast is a Tigard High School Band fundraiser. Audience It is a family weekend. Children six and under get in free, and because launches depend on weather and pilots, admission is a single three-day pass, so the same families come back across the weekend for several launches and both Night Glows. Executive Director Cindy Murphy says she hears one line all the time: "I grew up coming to this event, and now I bring my kids." Its social engagement is strongest across the Portland metro, particularly Tigard, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Tualatin and Sherwood. Track record In 2026 the festival put its giving back to the community over the years at more than $900,000. Volunteer shifts are how local groups earn their share: partners have included Tigard Breakfast Rotary, the Foundation for Tigard-Tualatin Schools, Tigard High School's athletic boosters and band parents, Mountain Wave Search and Rescue, Tigard Safe Grads and Meals on Wheels. About 700 volunteers work the weekend. Brand presence Each part of the program carries a presenting name: in 2026 Explore Tualatin Valley presented the morning launches, NW Natural the Night Glow, Landmark Ford the Festival of Cars and Krista Britton Real Estate the Main Stage, and Portland Rose Balloons was the official flight partner. Smaller sponsors can name an operation, such as the admission gates, the Kids Zone or the volunteers, or put their brand on the volunteer vests, the shuttles and the parking lot. Companies can also run sampling or a mobile tour on the main field, or book a private picnic or a VIP tent for clients during a launch or the Night Glow, for groups from 25 to more than 1,000.