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Steamboat Springs — Steamboat's Balloon Rodeo will return next July, but not to the meadow where it has been for 25 years.

Lodging reservations for the upcoming Rainbow Weekend are ahead of last year's pace already. The centerpieces of the long-running tourism weekend are Art in the Park, and the Balloon Rodeo. This year, 45 hot air balloons are scheduled to participate Saturday and Sunday.

The balloon event attracts thousands of spectators to Wildhorse Meadows, adjacent to the Steamboat Ski Area's remote parking lot. However, plans to develop a multi-family housing project on the site have been in the works for more than a year, and development plans have been submitted to the city. Last year at this time, organizers were expressing doubt about whether they could keep the event alive beyond its 25th anniversary.

Now, a spokeswoman for the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association says someone has come forward to offer a potential site, and she's confident the Balloon Rodeo will continue into the future.

"The event is not going away. We do want to continue hosting it into the future," chamber spokeswoman Riley Polumbus said. "It's still one of the most recognized signature events of the summer. At this time, alternative sites are under investigation for next year."

Polumbus said the chamber, which sponsors the event, wants to take some time to research the practicality of a tentative new site before revealing the location.

"Someone has offered their property," Polumbus said. "We just want to make sure it's the right fit."

The chamber wants to ensure that in addition to adequate parking for spectators, there is good access for the large pickup trucks balloon crews use to deliver the balloon baskets to the inflation site.

The base of the ski area offers ideal flying conditions on cool summer mornings. In addition to winds flowing in different directions at different elevations above the valley floor, there is a detectable morning breeze flowing down the Fish Creek drainage. Those factors combine to allow skilled pilots, who are ultimately at the mercy of the wind, to "fly a box" and finish their flight where it began.

The Balloon Rodeo is one of the most expensive summer events the chamber puts on, with very little opportunity to recoup revenue. In addition, insurance for the event has become more costly in recent years.

Chamber Executive Vice President Sandy Evans Hall said last July that the event costs her organization $18,000 to $20,000 to put on. Souvenir sales are the only avenue to offset expenses. There is no admission fee.

On the plus side, the chamber's lodging barometer already is projecting that 9,400 people will be in town Saturday night, and there's time for that number to grow.