Meet Tico, the sloth coming to this year’s Balloon Spectacular

Posted on 25 February, 2022

If you see a sloth flying through the sky in early March—your eyes don’t deceive you.

Tico, the sloth-shaped hot air balloon, will be flying over Canberra in all of his adorable glory as he joins this year’s Canberra Balloon Spectacular.

Bringing a fuzzy smile to the skies (and our hearts) it will make for a magical sight as he joins the dozens of other hot air balloons that will gently float across the morning sky for the annual festival, which will run from March 12 to 20 as part of the 2022 Enlighten Festival. 

The creation of brothers Todd and Scott Monahan from New York (the same team behind the magical pink unicorn balloon Allycorn), Tico is sure to bring squeals of joy from the crowds.

The Canberra Balloon Spectacular always has a special shaped balloon join the line-up—you might remember a giant T-Rex balloon, a beagle, a frog, and the hummingbird—and as sloths have extra vertebrae at the base of their neck that allows them to see 270°, Tico is the perfect balloon to see the full views of Canberra. 

With gates opening at 5:45 am on Saturday 12 March, the Canberra Balloon Spectacular will see the balloons being inflated and launched from Patrick White Lawns, in between the National Library and the lake. Running until 20 March, for those who have braved the dawn start there’s a hot breakfast to enjoy as the balloons lift off and drift across the dawn sky. But, as always,  announcements about if balloons will launch and fly are made at 6.15 am.

With limited spots at Patrick White Lawns available, you can also soak in those impressive views from other vantage points around town. Just remember to pack something warm and get ready to wave as Tico passes by…at what might be a much slower pace.

Feature image via facebook.com/EnlightenAU