Celebrating twenty years of flight in 2012, the twentieth annual Great Falls Balloon Festival is the premier summer event of central Maine and is a destination for many visitors to the state. This year, the Flying Purple People Eater, Stinky the Skunk, and Gus T. Guppy, along with dozens of other hot air balloons, will delight crowds from around the country. When the balloons aren’t floating overhead, there is still plenty to do: dozens of food booths serve everything from hot dogs to lime rickeys, including breakfast for those early morning launches, all run by volunteers from local nonprofit groups.