Festival of Ballooning spells out ticket replacement policy

The organizers of the QuickChek Festival of Ballooning have clarified their refund and ticket replacement policy after the rainy weather forced the early closure of the festival on Sunday, with many events postponed or canceled.

"For all of our guests who experienced challenges due to this weekend's unprecedented weather, we appreciate your feedback," the festival wrote on their Facebook page. Heavy rain on Saturday forced the evacuation of the festival ground at Soleburg Airport in Readington. The festival opened as scheduled on Sunday but closed after 11 a.m because of soggy conditions.

General admission ticket holders are being offered tickets to next year's festival but not straight refunds.

Those with general admission tickets that were not used will be able to get a ticket by presenting the body of the ticket, the bar code, and the ticket stub that includes the area to write your e-mail address. If the 2016 unredeemed ticket does not contain all three parts it is ineligible for 2017 tickets.

Hard ticket holders who went to the festival but were asked to leave because of the weather and didn't return, should mail their ticket no later than August 16 to QuickChek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning, ATTN: Festival Director, 363 Route 46, Suite 200, Fairfield, NJ 07004. A note should be included as to when you entered the grounds.

Those with unused tickets ordered online and printed at home should e-mail their order numbers to information@balloonfestival.com to receive a replacement ticket for the 2017 Festival. This includes Groupon orders. For those that went to the festival but were forced to leave, an email should be sent with the order number to receive an equal number of tickets to the 2017 festival.

Concert ticket holders will also be offered tickets to next year's concerts. The KC and the Sunshine Band concert was performed but those who were asked to leave the festival can email the festival their order number. Those ticket holders will pick a concert in June 2017. The John Kay/Steppenwolf/Foghat concert was not performed on Sunday and reserved concert ticket holders will automatically get a refund by August 5. Replacement tickets are not being offered for the Pop Sensation concert with Dove Cameron and Ryan McCartan, as it was performed as scheduled.

The weather also stopped most of the balloon rides with Saturday night and all Sunday rides canceled. Ticket holders will be automatically refunded.

Runners in the canceled Running with the Balloons 5K will automatically be entered in the 2017 race and will receive two tickets to the 2017 festival.