Join us on Tuesday, August 12 at 7 p.m., at Callahan Hall, Lewiston Public Library for a live conversation with hot air balloon pilot Derald Young of Dixfield, Maine.

Derald Young started his career in the 1960’s while attending the University of Maine. He received his private fixed wing pilot’s license in 1970. In 1971, he saw his first balloon and he was hooked! Young served as a naval flight officer for the U.S. Navy and then returned to his family home in the Bangor, Maine area. He learned to fly hot air balloons and started Damn Yankee Balloons Inc., which offered passenger flights and student instruction.

In 1985, Young set a record as the very first pilot to cross Northumberland Straight, which lies between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, Canada, in a hot air balloon. He flew 13 miles over ocean and landed on Prince Edward Island’s towering cliffs. Since that time, he has flown over 3,000 hours in 10 U.S. states and 6 Canadian providences. His biggest thrill still is sharing the wonderment of the first flight with new passengers.

Young met his wife Joy while ballooning in Vermont three decades ago, and together they currently reside in Dixfield, Maine. Damn Yankee Balloons provides aerial advertising for local and national businesses, walkthrough balloon and tethered balloon ride events in the eastern part of the U.S. and Canada. They fly passengers in 8 and 4-passenger balloons in Maine, Connecticut, and Massachusetts every week, June through October each year.

All Maine Voices Live events will be livestreamed in 2025.