Ravenna’s Balloon A-Fair is back for another year. The annual festival in Portage County which runs until Sunday is a celebration of hot air ballooning and is a big draw for both residents and tourists.
It’s rooted in Ravenna's history, a nod to a different, much smaller type of balloon, known around the world.
Ravenna was once a manufacturing powerhouse, and one of the companies that called the city home during the 20th century was the Oak Rubber Company, known for its toy rubber balloons.
Established in 1916 in Akron, Oak Rubber moved to Ravenna a year later, according to documents from the Portage County Historical Society. At the time, Ravenna was a growing city; The presence of transportation links, namely several railroad lines, made the city attractive to business. The company prospered in the 1920s and 30s.
During World War II, Oak Rubber shifted to supporting the war effort, becoming a producer of synthetic rubber. In 1944, the company received the Army Navy E award for its wartime production.
The company still had a large presence in the city in the 1970s when Debbie Sunderland, the current president of the historical society, moved to Ravenna after getting married. For a year, she worked in Oak Rubber’s Sycamore Street factory.
“I started in the department where you put the labels on the balloons, and then I went into the balloon making itself,” Sunderland said.
While multiple plants were in operation around Ravenna in the 1970s, Sunderland said, there weren’t many opportunities for tourism and entertainment. Community members in the city worked to change that, including Jean Wise, the CEO of Boheckers Business College.
“Jean Wise met with a couple of her contemporaries here in town,” Sunderland said, “... to figure out a way to bring local tourism to Ravenna. And they said, ‘what better way than to use Oak Rubber as an avenue because of the balloons?’”
During the 1980’s and 90’s, Ravenna’s fortunes began to change. Sunderland said businesses began to close, unemployment went up. The city also faced both a shortage of housing and a rising cost of living.
Locals and community groups came together to help residents who’d fallen on hard times, Sunderland said. The Balloon A-Fair helped lift people’s spirits.
“We provided a low-cost escape for people,” Sunderland said. “We had a children's parade on Thursday. Saturday, we have booths downtown and live entertainment .... we were only charging three dollars per person to get in. So we kept the cost low.”
Today, Oak Rubber is gone. The company left Ravenna in 1993. The old factory at 645 Chestnut St was torn down in 2022. But there are still rubber companies that call Ravenna home, including older businesses such as Trexler Rubber and Duracote.
And every year, in late September, Balloon A-Fair brings hot-air balloons, entertainment and a parade to the area. 2025 marks the 46th anniversary. It’s one of the longest running festivals of its kind in Ohio, according to Sean Short, this year’s Balloon A-Fair president. He said it attracts tourists far beyond Ravenna.
“I give golf cart rides to a lot of people during the festival, and I always ask them, 'where are you from? Is this your first time here?'” Short said.“
And over the past couple of years, almost everybody I've asked that question lives at least 45 minutes to an hour or more away. A lot of them were from out-of-state that are coming here to see it.”
For most of its history, the festival’s hot air balloon launches took place at Sunbeau Valley Farm. But that's been moved to the Portage County Fairgrounds, following the sale of the farm. Sunderland said the move will add capacity.
“There's more parking. And we always had trouble with the back forties at Balloon A-Fair at Sunbeau because there just wasn't enough [space],” Sunderland said. “We had to turn people away.”
The fair will now be able to offer hot air balloon rides, something Short said was not possible in previous years.
“Our goal every year is to add at least one new attraction every year to kind of keep it fresh and not stale,” Short said. “So we're always looking for something new that will draw people in, something unique.”