Natchez — A cheer rippled across the bluff as a giant penguin rose into the air.

The hot-air balloon, named Splash, was part of Friday night’s balloon glow, and managed to get off the ground despite high winds. The winds prevented any other balloons from fully inflating.

Pilot Bob Pulaski turned on the burners of his balloon, the Ski Lift, without attaching the actual balloon. The Ski Lift’s burners, accompanied by the burners of other pilots around the festival grounds, shot jets of fire into the air.

“We’ve got to do something for the crowd,” Pulaski said. “That’s why we’re here.”

“And they get excited about the burners,” chase crew member Wanda Boleyn added.

Splash’s crew took the smaller balloon to a large clearing and teamed up with the crew from Splash’s fellow penguin balloon, Puddles, to get it aloft.

“It took all of us to do it,” Pilot Andrew Holly said. “We have a big team here.”

Once the team filled the tethered balloon with air, the crew began turning the burner on and on off in time with the music coming over the loud speakers.

“We have a big crowd here,” Holly said. “That’s what we try and do — entertain crowds.”

Nearby, 9-year-old Eli Pickering was watching with his friend, Blake Ellis, 9.

“Awesomeness,” Pickering said, referring to the moment the enormous penguin balloon began to rise. “Like, that’s so cool.”

Both boys came from Madison to see the balloon race, and had come to the glow with Pickering’s grandmother, Natchez resident Ann Pickering. Although Eli said he saw another balloon over the river, Splash was the only balloon he saw at the glow.

With the nearby music Eli began dancing, illuminated by the light of the balloon’s burners. First-time balloon race visitor Ellis stood with him, and liked “seeing it light up each time with the flame.”

A little farther away, 17-year-old Katie Benson from Monroe, La., stood and took pictures. It was Benson’s first time at the balloon race.

Benson said she loves how hot-air balloons light up during the night and “they’re so free in the sky during the day.”

“I just really came here just to see them,” Benson said.

Splash is the first hot-air balloon she’s seen up close.

“She said this was on her

list,” Katie’s mother Alisha Benson said.

After the crew let the air out of Splash, several spectators came up and thanked the crew for getting the balloon up.

“That felt really good,” Holly said. “That’s why we did it.”

The 30th annual Great Mississippi River Balloon Race continues today with an early morning race scheduled for approximately 7:30 a.m., weather permitting. Sign up for text alerts at natchezdemocrat.com to find out if and when the balloons will get airborne.

The gates at the festival ground will open at 11 a.m. with musical acts beginning at noon.