The Cathedral City Balloon Festival, a community favorite since 2015, is now at the center of a legal battle. The city of Cathedral City and Fantasy Flights Balloons, the longtime operator of the event, are in dispute over who truly owns the festival’s name, logo, and brand.
Fantasy Flights, run by Cindy Wilkinson and her family, says they created and built the event from the ground up after the city first approached them years ago about adding a balloon to a farmers market. Instead, Fantasy Flights proposed a full festival, which Cathedral City later supported as a title sponsor. For nearly a decade, the company organized the event, securing sponsors and running the balloon operations.
Now, Cathedral City has filed a lawsuit claiming ownership of the festival’s branding and accusing Fantasy Flights of trademark infringement. Wilkinson rejects those claims, saying, “We created the Balloon Festival. They were the name sponsor. Now, they’re suing us to try to take it.”
The city says it followed a fair request-for-proposal process earlier this year and ultimately awarded the festival contract to another group, SoundSkills, based on the strength of its proposal. In a statement, Cathedral City said the move was necessary to protect sponsors and the public from confusion about who is operating the event.
Despite the lawsuit, Fantasy Flights is moving forward with a rebranded event. The Coachella Valley Hot Air Balloon Festival is scheduled for November 21–23 at the Westin Resort in Rancho Mirage. Meanwhile, Cathedral City plans to hold its own event downtown, including its popular Saturday night Balloon Glow.
Both sides insist their events will move forward as planned, but with competing festivals scheduled for the same weekend, the dispute has left balloonists, sponsors, and the community watching closely.
