If there's one New Jersey event to make a road trip for, it's this one.

It's the largest hot air balloon and music festival in North America. The Festival of Ballooning is returning to Solberg Airport in Reddington July 23-25, presented this year by New Jersey Lottery.

If you've never experienced this event, it's awesome. Over the course of three days, you'll witness hundreds of giant hot air balloons take flight. You can even take a ride on one of them. Balloon flights can range anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes depending on wind and weather conditions and direction of flight, and a few other variables. The whole ballooning experience, however, generally takes between 2 and 3 hours. This includes the setup, flight, pack up, and return trip to the festival.

The entertainment is solid this year. The Barenaked Ladies, Styx, and The Laurie Berkner Band will be performing. Friday night will feature fireworks, and the hot balloon glow happens on Saturday night.

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You won't find a more beautiful place to race than the Festival of Ballooning. There will be a Running of the Balloons 5K, sunrise yoga and pilates, and plenty of entertainment and activities for the kids.

You'll be in good company as over 200,000 people are expected to attend the 38th annual event.

New balloons that will be added to the fleet include a sloth, lucky unicorn, and the Unique Photo Panda.

This is a can't miss event. For more information, click here.

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