MEDORA, N.D. — “Fall colors” takes on a new meaning each autumn as bright balloons take to the skies over the Badlands.

The Medora Balloon Rally returns for its 23rd year this weekend, Sept. 6-7. Twelve pilots from across the United States will be convening in Medora to launch their hot air balloons during the event. All pilots have flown in the Badlands before, and each is excited to return for another year of fun.

Some of the pilots have been flying in the Badlands since the beginning of the Balloon Rally, including Tommy Tollefson and John Boulger, the balloon captain. Tollefson has warm memories of piloting in the Badlands during those early years.

“In the mid-1980s, we made the first balloon flight across Theodore Roosevelt National Park,” he reminisced. “That first flight in Medor

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