This
Weekend’s Event to Benefit LVMPD Search and Rescue Volunteers! More Than 20,000 Attendees Expected
Beginning
this Friday, Friends of Metro Search and Rescue will host its second annual
Balloon Festival and Carnival at the Southern Hills Hospital and Medical
Center. The visually stunning event is expected to attract more than 20,000
attendees during the 3-day event.
Families
will be able to get up close and personal with the hot air balloons and their
pilots. This is a great opportunity to see the behind-the-scenes magic of how
these high flying marvels work. Balloons will be both tethered and also available
for flights.
A
special addition to this year’s event is Reach For the Stars, a non-profit
organization that brings the joy of ballooning to people of all abilities with
a wheelchair accessible basket. Southern Hills Hospital and Reach For the Stars
are offering free tethered balloon rides to wheelchair bound guests each
morning of the festival from 7 to 9 a.m.
In
addition to the spectacular hot air balloons, there will be a health fair, food
vendors, carnival rides and games, as well as live rescue demonstrations by Las
Vegas’ very own Metro Search and Rescue Unit.
Tuscany
Suites & Casino is providing hotel accommodations for all balloon pilots.
The
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) Search and Rescue unit was
formed in 1986. The unit, including its
civilian volunteers, is on call 24 hours
a day, 365 days a year to provide all forms of search and rescue capabilities
throughout the nearly 8,000 square miles of Clark County. All members of the unit complete extensive
training in such skills as high angle/technical rope rescue, helicopter
operations, swift water rescue, desert and winter survival techniques,
tracking, land navigation, emergency medicine, as well as many others. The unit
operates by combining several highly specialized groups to complete its’
missions. These groups include paid police officers, helicopter support, and
more than 50 unpaid volunteers. The highly dedicated volunteers are selected
from the community based on their expertise and special talents. Volunteers
sustain regular jobs in the community and most maintain skills outside of the
unit as mountaineers, rock climbers, cavers, scuba divers, fire fighters, paramedics
and doctors. Friends of Metro Search and Rescue is a 501(c)3 non-profit
organization.
Entrance
is free. Schedules and activities vary daily; event is subject to weather.
Friday,
Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday,
Oct. 27: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Southern
Hills Hospital
9300
W. Sunset Road
Las
Vegas, NV 89148
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