Editor’s note: Reporter Cameron Levasseur got a firsthand look at the Crown of Maine Balloon Festival Friday morning as a passenger aboard a hot air balloon flight.

Just as the sun summited the horizon, Marian Deeney heaved Hemisphere Dancer into place.

She pulled a rope this way and that, wrangling the 47-foot-tall hot-air balloon like a veteran balloon cowboy.

Her crew chief manned the crown line. She jetted flames into the behemoth’s vast envelope. A volunteer crew kept everything straight.

Giant swaths of pink, purple, yellow and blue enveloped the sky as it rose, 77,000 cubic feet of air itching to leave the ground. Being a good steward, Deeney obliged.

Her passengers climbed into the basket. Bill Howard, the crew chief, released the tether and Hemisphere Dancer quickly cleare

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