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Hot air ballooning could help promote winter tourism in Anchorage.
Planning is underway for the 2008 annual Alaska World Balloon Challenge, to be held in February to coincide with Fur Rendezvous and the Iditarod.
Jim and Karen Rogina are working to organize the event that would bring balloon pilots from around the world to Anchorage. Jim, a balloon pilot who has logged thousands of hours worth of flight time, brainstormed the event with his wife, Karen. He said the idea came about after a long hiatus of balloon flying in Anchorage.
"It just sort of came up during a visit with world-renowned Italian balloon pilot Paolo Bonanno at an international ballooning event in Europe," Jim said. "When I mentioned an event in Alaska he said, 'Why don't we talk this over later at a private meeting?' So we did."
The...