The hot-air balloon that carried the flame for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics last summer will make a return appearance for this summer, and each summer until 2027.
French President Emmanuel Macron made the announcement last week in a post on X, saying “It will come back every summer. From the music festival to the sports festival, until the start of the Los Angeles Games.” It will return to its original location in the Jardin des Tuileries, next to the Louvre Museum.
This year’s dates are June 21st to September 14th, with the first date marking the opening of France’s Fête de la Musique. September 14th is set to become National Sports Day in France.
However, there may be some stumbling blocks between now and June: Matthieu Gobi, co-founder of Aerophile, the group that provided the balloon, told the newspaper Le Parisien that “we are in the starting blocks. We have not completely got the green light yet because we need to finance all of this.”
Image: Franckyl91/Wikimedia Commons
