It’s been 242 years since the first manned hot air balloon sailed over the Seine River in Paris, an historic event that officially launched the era of human flight.

Centuries have past, jet travel has become common, men have landed and walked on the moon. There are now plans for NASA and other private companies to go to Mars. Yet, our fascination with the hot air balloon remains a constant — which is why more than 200,000 people are expected to enjoy this year’s annual Labor Day Liftoff in Colorado Springs’ Memorial Park this weekend.

It’ll be the 49th year for the event, which means for a significant portion of the community, this is just how Labor Day weekend rolls — watching as many as 80 beautiful, multicolored hot air balloons soar through the late summer morning (hopefully) blue skies.

One of the problems with tradition is that it can become so familiar, so routine, that what once wowed us, no longer does. We lose the wonder. The extraordinary becomes ordinary.

Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier were the French brothers credited with pioneering the hot air balloon in the 1780s. They had 14 other siblings. Fiercely curious, they discovered that heated air in a bag rises. One experiment led to another and then another.

On Sept. 19, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers sent a sheep, a rooster, and a duck up in a makeshift balloon. The trio traveled 2 miles and landed safely. It was on Nov. 21 of that same year when they sent up the first balloon with people. Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent traveled the 5 miles under the watchful and amazed eyes of many, including Benjamin Franklin.

As the famed bespectacled Founding Father watched the exhibit from his balcony, someone was said to have asked, “What good is it?” The inventor replied incredulously, “What good is a newborn baby?”

Franklin understood the value of incremental progress, the idea that everything affects everything else. Little things lead to big things.

One of the great challenges of life is to be willing to make slow, daily progress, remain curious, and to recognize that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. As McDonald’s Ray Kroc succinctly said, “When we’re green we grow, when we’re ripe we rot.”

The late Charles “Dewey” Reinhard, who’s credited with starting the Labor Day festival in Colorado Springs back in 1976, possessed in spades that sense of wonder and workmanlike willingness to compound his daily gains. A talented pilot, he started the Appliance Service Company, served on the board of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, and had a reputation for being able to fix almost anything. Accordingly, he was courageous, adventurous and bold.

In 1977, Reinhard attempted to become the first person to cross the Atlantic alone in a balloon. He mortgaged the family house to finance the journey from Bar Harbor, Maine. Because of wicked storms, as well as a sonic boom from the passing Concord, they covered just 200 miles in 47 hours before ditching in the sea 20 miles southeast of Halifax. They didn’t make it, but it didn’t matter. They tried.

Reinhard and his team were embodying the spirit Teddy Roosevelt preached and lived, a convincing philosophy that should embolden us to give things a go even when many in the world say “No.”

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,” wrote T.R. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”

This weekend, the men and women piloting and supporting the balloons are the actors on stage. Memorial Park and city skies are the arena. The Labor Day Liftoff is a lot more than just a fun family event that generates upwards of $20 million for the local economy. It’s a metaphor for what is possible, individually and collectively. It’s a microcosm of what can happen when we wake up early, work hard, and develop and cultivate a team, and then boldly go for it.

Few of us will pilot a balloon, but we’re piloting our lives and eager to soar into the skies. Here’s to the proverbial warm sunshine and fair winds to take you wherever and however far you want to go.

Paul J. Batura is a local writer and founder of the 4:8 Media Network. He can be reached via email Paul@PaulBatura.com or on X @PaulBatura.