A soaring white passenger balloon will dot Chicago’s skyline for at least another summer after the city Plan Commission decided Thursday to give a New York-based company approval to sell balloon rides.
The balloon operated out of Gateway Park near the western end of Navy Pier for two months last summer as part of a test run between AeroSpace-NYC and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority. The rides will continue from early May to late September, with the balloon company able to negotiate a lease extension with McPier officials.
Planning commissioners had to sign off on the balloon rides under the city’s lakefront preservation ordinance.
Video courtesy the Chicago Tribune.