NATCHEZ — The City of Vidalia fulfilled this week its agreement with the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race to share revenue from festivities hosted in Vidalia at the same time as the race.

The result was a check for $3,478.53, or 20 percent of total revenue collected from the Vidalia events after expenses.

“We wanted to help the balloon race, not hurt them,” Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said in a news release this week. “Without the GMRBR, this number of people wouldn’t be coming out that weekend to Vidalia riverfront.”

“There are a number of people in the community that have always come to the Vidalia side to watch the balloons fly over, as well as the balloon glow and fireworks display on Friday night. We wanted to give our citizens an option, and see if we couldn’t help out the balloon race committee at the same time.”

Vidalia Riverfront Director H.L. Irvin said approximately 8,000 people visited the Vidalia riverfront during the balloon race weekend in mid-October.

Vidalia Marketing Director Sherri Rabb said working with, instead of against, the balloon race committee makes the most sense for everyone.

“It costs a lot of money to get the balloons here and pay the bands, and the myriad of other expenses to make a great balloon race weekend,” Rabb said. “Instead of one city feeding off of another, we sat down with the GMRBR committee and came up with a plan that helps us both. We can feed off of their event and be an asset instead of a drain. This is a low-income area, and not everyone can afford to go to Rosalie.

“We also have a lot of senior citizens that just want to watch the balloons go over, but maybe not listen to the bands. It’s a ying-yang situation. This way, there is something that fits everyone’s budget and taste.”

Trippy Shields served as the Vidalia liaison for the balloon race, and said the race committee was glad to have been able to work something out with Vidalia.

“(We are) just grateful and appreciate they have come on board to enhance the whole weekend,” he said.