It's still a bucket under a gas bag. Steve Fossett and Kevin Uliassi made recent headlines trying to balloon around the world. Jacksonville's Jetta Shantz remains atop the slim set of record-setting balloonists. To everyone's surprise a balloon landed at the local Fed Ex shipping office just before Christmas.
Ballooning is an old tradition in Jacksonville.
Earliest lore recalls a lone balloon that drifted mysteriously over the city in the 1880s. After the turn of the century ballooning became a staple of derring-do. The Florida Ostrich Farm in Fairfield brought ballooning to the masses. Captive balloons carried the locals aloft. It was not without peril and mishap.