There’s something inherently joyful about hot air balloons — the color, the spectacle, the sense that, just maybe, someone forgot to invent the steering wheel.

So when I got the opportunity to help build the new website for the Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival, I was all in. It’s not every day you get to work on something that involves giant floating art, tethered rides, live music, and local community pride — all in one project.

What made it even better was the team: this was a true collaboration between myself, Soundskilz, Fried Design, and the City of Cathedral City. Everyone brought their piece to the table, and I was brought in to turn the vision into a working website — one that could handle everything from schedule announcements to ticket sales and city-wide visibility.

The Site Had to Be… a Lot of Things

This wasn’t just a brochure site. It needed to:

• Highlight an ever-changing festival schedule
• Show off the experience (imagery mattered here)
• Be easy to navigate for locals and out-of-towners
• Be ready to scale — not just for this year, but for future events

From a functionality standpoint, we wanted to keep things streamlined. Visitors needed to quickly:

• See what the festival is about
• Get event details and updates
• Find location + parking info
• Be directed to ticketing and partner promotions

On top of that, the design needed to match the bold, vibrant energy of the event itself — but still load fast and look great on mobile (because no one checks festival details from their desktop).

The Process: Collaborative, Creative, and Focused

The design direction was led by Fried Design, who provided the vibrant visual foundation. Soundskilz and the City team helped shape the content and priorities. My job was to make it all work — to turn the design into a flexible, modern WordPress site that could grow with the festival.

A few highlights:

• Custom WordPress build using a flexible layout system for future content additions
• Mobile-first design optimized for users checking schedules on the go
• Clean URL and SEO structure to help drive traffic as the event gets closer
• Room to expand for future years — because this festival is only going to get bigger

We also kept admin editing in mind. The site’s backend was set up with simple content blocks and guidance so the team managing updates wouldn’t have to dig through code or guess where things live.

The Launch

The new site quietly went live in late July — and then got a nice boost with coverage from NBC Palm Springs shortly after.

 

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A post shared by Cathedral City International Hot Air Balloon Festival (@cchotairballoonfest)

It’s always satisfying to see a site go live, but especially when it’s for an event that brings people together in such a joyful, visual, community-focused way.

You can check it out here:
www.cchotairballoonfest.com

Final Thoughts

Event websites are their own unique thing. They need to be fast, clear, beautiful, and flexible — often all at once. And they need to be built with both excitement and logistics in mind.

If you’re running or promoting a public event and want a website that actually works (and doesn’t take a village to update), I’d love to help.

Let’s talk