FITZGERALD — They prefer to be called “balloonists” not “ballooners.”

Katrina and Dale Pattyn have been ballooning together since 2010 when Dale got his balloon pilot license.

Their balloon, Hyggelig, has a volume of 90,000 cubic feet and is as tall as a six story building. According to the Pattyns, the name comes from a Danish word meaning “the gathering of family and friends for good times around a warm fire with food and drink. Those warm, cozy times of which fond memories are made.”

They were one of seven teams operating balloons at the 6th annual Harmony Jubilee in Fitzgerald. The celebration, spanning Nov. 9—11, included live music by Megan Fowler, Anna Beth Gay, and Brown Town, as well as a wine and cheese tasting, a balloon glow, an artisan market, a 5K color run, “Pedaling for a Purpose” orchestrated by the Dorminy Medical Center Foundation, a pet fashion show by the local Humane Society, a ghost tour and more.

The event brings in tourists, and balloonists, from across the state. Kevin Allen from Atlanta packed his family into the RV for the weekend after seeing an ad for the Jubilee in a camping magazine. At the wine and cheese tasting and balloon glow, Allen said they were all “having a blast.”

His daughter was shocked to see the balloons.

“They’re so big,” she said.

Frosty’s Bottle Shop provided the wine to sip under a lighted tent while the hot air balloons glowed next to the lake at Paulk Park.

Katrina held the crown line and her husband began the inflation process.

“We consider the balloon almost a living thing,” she said.

The warm and cool air interacting in the envelope, the balloon for layman, will make the balloon rise.

“You’re gonna see the balloon come to life, so to speak,” Katrina said.

She said working with the balloons is second nature for her. She’s been doing it since she was nine.

Her husband retired from the Air Force in 2008. In 2009, they got their first balloon system. Balloon pilots are licensed by the FAA. Balloons are technically aircraft and they have an N number just like an airplane. It is the oldest form of flying, according to Katrina.

“The very first ballooning flight took place in France in 1783 and not a lot has changes since then,” she said.

The fire source is the only major change since that first flight over 200 years ago.

Katrina said that the balloon community is “tight-knit.”

“Balloon people are very generous and friendly.” She grew up ballooning in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “It’s a community where we want to see everybody else succeed.”

Her husband has seven years of ballooning experience and has participated in the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta since the beginning. Katrina said for her and her husband, safety is first. Ballooning is weather dependent.

“Taking off is an option, landing is not,” she said.

In the Air Force, Dale was a special operations pilot.

“He’s had his ‘yeehaw’ moments,” Katrina said. “He doesn’t want to do that anymore.”

“It’s such a different way of flying that I had done at the Air Force for all those years,” Dale said. After his first time piloting the balloon, he was hooked. “We’ve been going kind of crazy ever since,” said Dale.

The Harmony Jubilee is organized by the Fitzgerald-Ben Hill Arts Council and the Chamber of Commerce.