A hot air balloon flies during Friday morning’s media flight of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)
Charles Venable inflates his hot air balloon during Friday morning’s media flight of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)
Hot air balloons fly during Friday morning’s media flight of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)
A Natchez High School students walks through the Natchez High School parking lot as seen from a hot air balloon during Friday morning’s media flight of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)
Hot air balloon pilot Charles Venable tests the burner on his hot air balloon during Friday morning’s media flight of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)
Jaime Chaffin, left, and Maria Lambert, right, help unroll Charles Venable’s hot air balloon during Friday morning’s media flight of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)
Ballons lift off from the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
Ballons lift off from the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln COmmunity College. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
The sun rises over the Mississippi River levee near the Vidalia Bungee grain elevator as crews wait for hot-air balloon pilot Jason Gaines to take off and fly across the Mississippi River bridges to downtown Natchez Thursday morning. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
Ballons lift off from the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
Ballons lift off from the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
Ballons lift off from the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
Ballons lift off from the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
Ballons lift off from the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
Robert and Sally Upton’s Jester Balloon begins to inflate at the Copiah-Lincoln Community College Natchez campus Friday morning. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)
Bill Cunningham flies in as the hare balloon in Friday morning’s race. (Ben Hillyer / The Natchez Democrat)