Business owners say they have survived another balloon festival weekend and that is good news for the Miss-Lou.

A weekend of beautiful blues skies, cooperative winds and a music lineup that included hometown band Bishop Gunn proved to be the right recipe for a successful Natchez Balloon Festival.

Area stores and restaurants stayed busy from Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon and balloon fans lined the Natchez bluff to see balloons lifting off from both sides of the river.

Thanks to all of those who helped organize the event and to all of the volunteers for donating their time and energy to this 34-year tradition.

We can’t wait until next year.

Other good news from last week includes:

4Running is in Cathedral junior Ryan Skate’s blood. The cross-country runner will soon run for his second MAIS state championship at Choctaw Trails in Clinton. As the top runner on the Cathedral team, Skates is a role model for the younger runners on the team. Also the junior class president, Skates said he will probably keep running in college and can’t wait to see where life takes him. With his determination and work ethic in cross-country as an example, we have confidence that Skates will go far.

4An afternoon walk downtown spurred a group of residents to show their community pride and pick up trash. A loose organization of friends have used the power of social media to spruce up areas of town where litter has collected. In recent weeks the group of young adults have collected trash along Main, Franklin, Broadway and Canal streets ahead of last weekend’s balloon festival. We hope their willingness to clean up the community spurs more people to do the same. Those interested in knowing more can go to https://www.facebook.com/projectcleanupntz/.

As we recuperate from an exciting balloon festival weekend, let’s keep an eye out for good news in our community.