Q&Amy: Will Aloft ever fly again?
Q: Is there any chance of the Aloft hot air balloon festival ever returning?
Amy in short: Basically, no.
A bit more: Aloft directors announced in June 2014 that the 33-year-old hot air balloon festival would cease operations and file for bankruptcy.
The Chapter 7 petition filed two months later revealed at least $320,000 in debts.
Cash on hand barely exceeded $7,000, according to documents filed with the state bankruptcy court. Total assets, down to a conference table and three-hole punch in the Aloft office, totaled $43,600.
Some of the festival's biggest creditors included the city of Simpsonville, owed $52,900 for site lease; various food vendors due more than $49,000; and former festival director Cindy Nelson, who was owed more than $37,000 in personal expenditures and $7,400 in unpaid salary.
Chapter 7 isn't the kind of bankruptcy where a company can reorganize, get some debts off its books and come roaring back, a la General Motors or Delta Airlines.
"That's a liquidating bankruptcy. Once that process is through, there's no Aloft left," said John Fort, who is serving as the bankruptcy trustee for the case.
Bankruptcy attorney Randy Skinner could not be reached for comment on the current status of the filing.
Once the bankruptcy proceedings are completed, the corporation behind the festival will be dissolved, and along with it the will of its previous leaders to get a similar event off the ground.
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"Based on the core group of people who've been the core for the last 35 years, there's been no interest in resurrecting it again," Nelson said.
"I don't envision it coming back again, just don't see that as a possibility," said Chuck Morton, the former president of the festival board of directors.
Though it spent its golden years at Heritage Park in Simpsonville, Aloft's start was as Freedom Weekend Aloft — or lovingly "Freedom Weekend Afloat" to those of us who endured soaking summer storms during the annual July 4 celebration — at the former Donaldson Center.
It would later move to Memorial Day weekend and then to Anderson and then to Simpsonville.
The festival's fortunes began to dwindle markedly in recent years, a slide blamed on a mixture of the moves, bad weather and poor management decisions. Bankruptcy documents record a net loss of $21,000 in 2012, $28,000 in 2013 and a staggering $208,500 in its final year.
But if you're jonesing for a hot air balloon festival fix, try Ballons over Anderson or Carolina BalloonFest, in Statesville, North Carolina, both going on in October.
Got a question? Send it to Q&Amy by emailing me at aburns@greenvillenews.com or calling 864-298-3822. You can find me on Twitter at @QandAmyNews.
Staff writer Nathaniel Cary contributed to this report.