NATCHEZ — After poor weather conditions kept balloons grounded last year, Saturday morning proved to be a beautiful day for pilots to take flight during the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race.

Pilots separated to various take off spots across the river from Natchez, so they could hit their target at the Natchez Mall.

With the first day of competition flying completed, three pilots shined among more than 60 competitors in Saturday’s morning flight.

When Pat Cannon took first place Saturday morning, it was only ironic that Harold Bubba Cliver would be next in line.

Both Cannon and Cliver traveled from Lewisville, Texas, to participate in the annual event, and even shared a seat within the same row during flight briefings.

Cannon said he owes everything to his crew.

“Preparation was pretty easy,” Cannon said.

Cannon and his crew took off near the Rearview RV Park in Vidalia, using time as his guide.

“It depends on when you want to take off,” Canon said. “I wanted to fly early this morning so I could be the first part of the pack.”

It’s better to be early, than to be late, Cannon said.

“This morning, we had enough steer from the wind to make our target,” Cannon said.

Cliver said he was not far from beating Cannon, after both men prepared in similar fashion.

“It was a beautiful morning,” Cliver said. “I’m looking forward to our last race.”

Behind Cannon and Cliver came a pilot not from Lewisville, Texas, but from England.

Andrew Holly made his fifth trip to Natchez for the race to have a good time with local friends.

“It’s a nice relaxed event,” Holly said. “I have a lot of friends here now.”

Holly said there was no pressure to fly during Saturday morning’s race.

“We took off near the river,” Holly said. “We didn’t think that we would make the target but lucky, we got in.”

Despite Holly being a three-time British national champion as a balloon pilot, the 18-year veteran does not seek competition in Natchez.

“I just love flying across the river,” Holly said. “But now, it’s become more of an opportunity for me to see close friends — they’re like a long extended family.”

Louise Jones, also from England, works with Holly’s flight crew.

“It’s a very great job,” Jones said. “I learn a lot from Andrew (Holly) as a pilot.”

Unfortunately, balloons did not touch the sky during their Saturday afternoon competition because of wind conditions.

Race director Curtis Moroney said forecasts originally showed winds coming from the west. But when pilots began preparing for the afternoon flights, the winds were coming from the north.

“That’s one thing I don’t think people realize is that literally everything we do is not predetermined and is all dependent on the weather,” Moroney said. “We just never know until we can actually see at that time what’s going on, and that’s one of the most difficult things.”

A pilot briefing will take place at 6:30 a.m. today to determine the flight pattern.

Moroney said he hopes to see pilots fly in a morning and afternoon race today, but what types of races those will be won’t be decided until the pilot briefings.

“A lot of times we’ll try to do a two or three stage task where we take off and fly towards a target, but after that there’s a secondary target,” Moroney said. “At that second target, we might have a balloon take off from there and that balloon is the one everyone has to follow.”

Moroney said he hopes balloons will be able to take off from the festival site, located at the Rosalie Bicentennial Gardens, for today’s afternoon race at approximately 4 p.m. Gates to the site open at noon.

To know where and when balloons will fly, sign up for a free text alert service that will send you balloon flight information all weekend.

Visit natchezdemocrat.com to sign up for the free updates to be sent to your cell phone.

Musical entertainment continues today at the festival site with students from the Concordia Parish Gifted Musical Program playing at 1 p.m., followed by Natchez native Hannah Belle at 1:45 p.m.

Josh Thompson will headline today’s events, with the country artist starting at 4:30 p.m.