Friday, July 29: While we all await our billion dollar plus payout from the lottery, there may be no better place to wait than the New Jersey Lottery’s Festival of Ballooning. You can literally see your lottery dollars disappear into thin air. The festival runs all weekend, but Friday night could be exciting when the numbers are called. If you happen to have the winning lottery ticket, take a pic of it before the balloon festival and put it in your safe. Don’t bring the ticket along. Word to the wise.
Tickets to the balloon festival are $40 for adults, and children (3-12) are $15. Kids under 3 are free. On Friday, festivities start at 1 p.m., but the mass balloon inflation starts at 6:30 p.m. with ascension at 6:45. After that, Collective Soul will be playing at 8 p.m. followed by a fireworks extravaganza at 9:30 p.m.
What a celebration this would be, if you simultaneously knew you just won $1.1 billion dollars. The festival takes place at Solberg Airport, which is only about 30 minutes from New Hope. There are balloon launches and other festivities everyday this weekend, so if you love hot air balloons, stay all weekend.
Saturday, July 30: The New Hope Film Festival is happening this weekend. You can check out the program guide for show times. Once you figure out what you want to see, you can purchase tickets for the individual shows.
The feature film Emily or Oscar looks like a fun one to go see on Saturday afternoon. It’s a Hollywood’s golden era romantic musical comedy. It’s won multiple film festival awards in recent months. The show is at 5:15 p.m. at New Hope Arts Center. Tickets are $16.
If you want a little more 1920’s era, Souderton’s Broad Theater is celebrating its Centennial Anniversary with a 1920’s themed party from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. There will be Big Band and Swing music, and hors d’oeuvres starting at 7 p.m. The event will be catered by Broad Street Pizza and there will be a cash bar from Free Will Brewing. As this is a themed party, dress in your best 1920’s garb and be ready to watch some silent films from the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
Sunday, July 31: While it seemed like slim pickings for a solely Sunday thing to do (remember, you could be going to the balloon festival or the film festival already on Sunday), the internet did not disappoint after all. Jason Ager is playing at Tranquility Brewing Company on Sunday at 2 p.m. If you’re not familiar with Jason Ager, he is a singer and songwriter…and college professor. If you haven’t seen him play, Jason’s music has a rock/blues vibe with some really great lyrics.
If you haven’t been to Tranquility Brewing Company at the Fuge, it’s worth checking out. The Fuge is the home and named after the Johnsville Centrifuge. According to their website, it was “the largest and most powerful centrifuge ever built.” The US Navy built it in 1949 to train experimental pilots and early astronauts. Because of that, there is plenty of astronaut and space age decor. Tranquility Brewing at the Fuge is located at 780 Falcon Drive in Warminster.
Have a great weekend!
