Wrapping Up a Great 2026 and Now Booking 2027 Fairs, Festivals & Events
Another year of fairgrounds, festival streets, and fairground lights is almost in the books.
2026 took The Balloon Brigade all over Nebraska and Iowa, from county fair midways to downtown festival stages, and we're not ready to stop just because the calendar is turning.
We're already building our 2027 fair, festival, and event calendar, and it's open for booking right now.
If you're on a fair board, festival committee, or event planning team, this is the time of year those decisions start getting made, so we wanted to make it easy to get on our radar early.
What a Year It's Been
This year took us back to familiar grounds and introduced us to some new ones.
We spent time at Burt County Fair, Montgomery County Fair, and Kool-Aid Days, alongside the usual lineup of school carnivals, church festivals, company picnics, and community celebrations across the Omaha metro.
Every one of those events is a little different. A county fair midway moves differently than a downtown city festival. A senior center's afternoon program needs a different pace than a Friday night concert crowd.
That variety is exactly why we built our lineup the way we did, headliner shows for the main stage, hands-on stations that keep lines moving, and roaming performers who carry the energy to every corner of the grounds.
Why Fair Boards and Festival Committees Book Early
Here's a question we hear every year around this time: "Isn't it too early to think about next summer?"
It isn't, and the answer is worth being direct about: most Nebraska and Iowa fair boards and festival committees begin locking in entertainment for the following summer between November and February, well before the best weekend dates are taken.
Waiting until spring usually means picking from whatever's left rather than what actually fits your grounds and your crowd.
Booking early also gives us time to build a run-of-show around your specific gate times, foot traffic patterns, and existing stage lineup, instead of trying to fit a generic package into your day at the last minute.
What We Bring to Fairgrounds of Every Size
Depending on your footprint and crowd, The Balloon Brigade can build a lineup around:
Mainstage shows: The Amazingly Fantastic Show and The Amazing Arthur Show
Balloon twisting stations that keep lines moving all day
Face painting, airbrush tattoos, and henna tattoos
Caricature artists for a take-home keepsake
Fortune tellers for a playful midway stop
A photo booth for shareable, branded memories
Roaming stilt walkers and strolling magic to carry the fun across the grounds
For a single-plaza small-town fair, that might mean a tight, highly visible lineup built around one or two stations. For a full city festival with multiple stages, it might mean headliners, several stations, and roaming performers spread across your entire footprint. Either way, we build the lineup around your grounds, not the other way around.
Let's Put 2027 on the Calendar
We travel roughly 100 miles around Omaha, covering fairs, festivals, and events throughout Nebraska and Iowa.
If you're starting to think about your 2027 fair board meeting, your festival committee's first planning session, or just want to see what's available before dates fill up, now is the time to reach out.
Call us at 402-526-5468 or email [email protected] to start the conversation. You can also visit www.TheBalloonBrigade.com to explore our entertainment options and request a quote.
Want to see more from this year's fairs and festivals, or just want to reach us directly? Follow along and get in touch:
Phone: 402-526-5468
Facebook: https://facebook.com/theballoonbrigade
Instagram: https://instagram.com/the_balloon_brigade
YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCP5J1W0FwQ2kl9r7C6nzdg
Here's to a great close to 2026, and an even bigger 2027.
