If the traffic on Canal Street is any indication, downtown Natchez retailers should have had a great weekend.

And despite all the hoopla over the hot-air balloons, musical festival and carnival rides, the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race is really about helping businesses.

Although the race is a fundraiser for the Historic Natchez Foundation, the race’s primary focus since its inception 31 years ago has been to help spark more business for downtown businesses.

The truth is the balloon race could have grown much bigger if the organizers simply chose to go for more money and forget the initial mission.

They could have moved the event to a more remote location that offered better flying conditions and could hold greater numbers of balloons.

Fortunately, organizers have kept their focus on the initial mission and after three decades of the event, downtown retailers, restaurants and bars struggle to imagine October without the huge impact of the balloon race on their bottom lines.

When the race was first founded by local businessmen James Biglane, Ron Riches and Cappy Stahlman, it’s likely none of them knew how big of a deal their fledgling event would eventually become.

We applaud them and thank them for their vision, and we applaud the myriad of volunteers whose hard work helps improve our community’s downtown.

We hope the good weather Friday and Saturday will foretell good weather today and result in a successful race day again.