BINGHAMTON, NY – (WIVT/WBGH) Due to the weather, balloon flights will not be taking off this evening, but the rest of the weekend looks promising.

The ballooners are constantly checking the wind and weather patterns up until the moment they prepare for takeoff. One balloon at this year’s festival is paying tribute to the first ever hot air balloon flights that took place in 1783. The first in flight balloon is one of one, completed back in March, and uses the same color scheme and design as the Montgolfier Brothers had 240 years ago. The Balloon Maester at the festival, Scott Griswold says to be on the lookout for flying farm animals.

“Humans were scared to fly in balloons at first. So, what they did, was they sent up these three farm animals. They picked a sheep, a duck, and a rooster to send up, and they successfully made a seven-eight minute flight and a then a few weeks later, humans started to fly,” said Griswold.

The sheep was chosen because it was thought to have similar physiology of a human, the duck was the control subject since it was used to flying at high altitudes, and the rooster was included because unlike the duck, it does not fly high. Griswold says that all of the commercial flights are already sold out, but that they will be offering tether rides throughout the weekend free of charge.