![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2006\/08\/festival_grounds.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWe were in LA, or really L\/A, which in central Maine is Lewiston\/Auburn, the twin cities of Androscoggin County, on Saturday for a balloon festival.<\/p>\n
Hot air balloons are like fireworks. You have to be there to appreciate the scale. But of course I have pictures.<\/p>\n
Lewiston is the second biggest city in Maine, with a population around 36000. Add Auburn and you have almost 60000, still only 3\/4 as much as Newton. There are some huge old mill buildings which used to run on water power from the falls of the Androscoggin River. The mills look too big for a city of that size, so I bet there were more people living there 80 years ago.<\/p>\n
The balloon festival grounds, Railroad Park, along the river, looked like most fairgrounds, with lots of tents. Businesses were displaying lawn tractors and hawking waterless cookware sets.<\/p>\n
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When you get a balloon as a souvenier at a balloon festival, it’s a miniature model of a balloon with a basket:<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2006\/08\/balloon_souveniers.jpg\")
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There were musical performances all day. We heard a group of Metis, mixed ancestry Native American and French Canadians, singing and drumming. To my untutored ears it sounded just like the powwow last weekend, and there was a whiff of the same sage smudge too.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2006\/08\/metis.jpg\")
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We walked around the grounds, across the river on a footbridge, and back on a riverside path on the Auburn side of the river. On that side a band was playing at a festival plaza where there was a lovely fountain with sheets of water that seemed to be inspired by the waterfalls of the Androscoggin. Arlene enjoyed standing in the spray.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2006\/08\/wall_of_water.jpg\")
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We walked across another bridge back to the Lewiston side. An osprey was hunting near the falls. I didn’t get a picture of it, but it’s a good sign for the recovery of both the formerly endangered ospreys and the formerly terribly polluted Androscoggin. The helicopter was doing sightseeing rides as part of the festival.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2006\/08\/lewiston_falls.jpg\")
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— balloon pictures proper will be in another post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We were in LA, or really L\/A, which in central Maine is Lewiston\/Auburn, the twin cities of Androscoggin County, on Saturday for a balloon festival. Hot air balloons are like fireworks. You have to be there to appreciate the scale. But of course I have pictures. Lewiston is the second biggest city in Maine, with … <\/p>\n