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Health & Fitness

Up and Away With Waterford's Hot Air Balloons

The Waterford Balloon Festival fills the skies — and ground — with color this weekend. This beautiful July weekend is also filled with exciting athletic competition, the arts and a new musical. Come along with Real Racine for these picks.

 

Floating beauty.  Peaceful, calm and absolutely gorgeous! As many as 18 majestic hot air balloons are expected at this year's Waterford Balloon Festival. The family fun starts at 4 p.m. Friday, July 19 at the Evergreen Elementary School grounds, 817 W. Main St. The balloons are scheduled to launch about 6:30 p.m. and a spectacular evening balloon glow is planned for about 8:15 p.m. On Saturday, balloon launches start at 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. In between, there are kids activities, food, live music, helicopter rides, a craft fair, a car show and much more. Parking near the grounds is $5. The festival's final balloon launch is planned for 6 a.m. Sunday. Check out the Waterford Area Chamber of Commerce website (www.waterford-wi.org) for a complete list of activities.

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Exciting competition.  About 2,300 athletes from around the world are expected for the Ironman 70.3 Racine Triathlon this Sunday, July 21. In this premiere event, athletes will compete in a 1.2-mile Lake Michigan swim, a 56-mile bicycle ride through Racine County and a 13.1-mile run along the lake shore. North Beach, 100 Kewaunee St., Racine, is the starting line, finish line and transition point between all activities. The beach is also the site of the Ironman Village athlete service area. Stop by North Beach to see the first wave of competitive swimmers hit the water at 7 a.m. The first finishers are expected about 10:30 a.m. The competition is expected to be wrapped up by about 5 p.m. Athlete check-in and an expo will be at Racine's Festival Hall, 5 Fifth St., from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Visit www.ironman.com

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Head Downtown for fitness.  The Racine Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department, in partnership with HeadLight Fitness, hosts “Fitness Fair on the Square” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m Saturday. This is a free kickoff event to introduce Fitness in the PARKS, a new program featuring family fitness classes in local parks throughout the city of Racine.

 

A big evening Downtown.  Downtown Racine is a happening place from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday for Gallery Night. The area's galleries and shops are hosting nearly 200 artists who will be showing, demonstrating and creating their works. Walk along Main and Sixth streets to see chalk artists making 3-D masterpieces. You're also invited to the Art Puzzle Walk where you can pick up a puzzle piece at participating locations for a chance to win one of a 12 beautiful pieces of fine art. The Racine Art Museum, 441 Main St., has free admission all evening. Visit www.racinedowntown.com

 

More music close by.  The sTRIve Triathlon Club hosts a free, pre-Ironman party at Monument Square from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday. The Sentinels will perform along with raffles, prizes, games, poster making and more. Visit www.strivetriclub.com. Over at the Fifth Street boat launch, Salmon-A-Rama, the country's largest freshwater fishing tournament, has free evening entertainment. Saturday's SAR lineup includes Pat McCurdy at 7 p.m., the Texas Roadhouse Dancers at 8 p.m. and Fall Hazard at 10 p.m. Visit www.salmon-a-rama.com

 

Opening night.  The Racine Theatre Guild presents two weekends of musical-horror-comedy with "The Rocky Horror Show." The rock musical that spawned a cult film opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday and runs for two weekends. Shows are also at 7:30 and 11 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Be cautioned that this production has adult content. Tickets at www.racinetheatre.org or call 262-633-4218.

 

 

Heading West.  Western Days is back in West Racine 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Drop by the West Racine shopping district, Washington Avenue and West Boulevard, for a kids sidewalk parade, carnival games, pony rides, a bouncy house and a pig roast. It's all presented by the Merchants and Professionals of West Racine.

 

That's it for now. Visit Real Racine's website (www.realracine.com) for more summertime events and activities. You'll find daily updates on Facebook (www.facebook.com/realracine) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/realracine).

 

 






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