After graduating from law school roughly a year ago, Matt McClinton traded potential courtrooms and law offices for a workspace in the sky.

McClinton took over leadership of his father’s business, SkyCab Balloons, in Louisville, which has long been involved in the U.S. Bank Balloon Classic. The festival takes place at the airport from Friday to Sunday. 

Through his company ‘s sponsorship from U.S. Bank, McClinton travels to balloon shows all over the country, though he appreciates chances to operate closer to home. 

“This is kind of like a local weekend for us,” he said. “Last week we were in Kansas.”    

For his business, he’s traveled as far as New Jersey and California this year. 

Wednesday evening, to demonstrate the art of ballooning, McClinton took two Daily News staffers into the sky. 

At the Balloon Classic, similar rides will be available. Admission to the event is free, though balloon rides require a $10 ticket, according to a news release from United Way of Southern Kentucky, which will receive net proceeds from the festival. Gates open at 3:30 p.m. Friday, shortly after daylight Saturday and at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, the release said.

McClinton started by driving a Chevy 2500 into a field behind the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, the truckbed loaded with the basket, fabric, burners and rope that, over the course of about 20 minutes, he’d fashion into a balloon.   

The sunset impending and the sky mostly clear and inviting, McClinton, pulled a switch above his head, summoning a burst of fire, strong enough for its warmth to be felt 10 feet away. The balloon, in eye-catching white and dark blue and emblazoned with a U.S. Bank logo, swelled and rose, coming to hover inches above the ground.     

Once his passengers boarded, McClinton took off, soaring north with the wind, quickly coming up to a pace of 12 miles an hour.    

As the scenery unfolded dozens of feet below the basket, he mentioned that, as a teenager, when he first flew a balloon over the neighborhood he grew up in, he saw plenty of things he’d never known about before.   

“It’s just a completely different perspective,” he said. 

The balloon drifted over Lover’s Lane, Cemetery Road and plenty of wooded areas and wide open fields, with nothing to guide it but the wind and a combination of burners and a series of ropes allowing the pilot to vent air. 

Throughout the flight, McClinton maintained contact with Janet Flora, who followed his progress in the truck, hoping to meet up with him upon his landing.     

The trip ended roughly thirty minutes before sunset, when McClinton touched down near the Rivergreen subdivision off Cemetery Road. Flora arrived while he was still in the process of bringing the balloon in for a safe landing.  

During the process of packing up the balloon, a dozen or so cars drove past, many of them slowing down so their drivers could observe the balloon. After the balloon was stowed away, McClinton drove his passengers and Flora back to the airport for the traditional glass of post-journey champagne.  

Since he was 5 years old, McClinton has been coming to this event. Now, he’s responsible for planning much of it.  

Having been interested in piloting balloons for most of his life, being so heavily involved in the U.S. Bank Balloon Classic and taking over SkyCab were natural steps for him, he said. 

“This has been a passion of mine since I was a kid,” he said. “It’s in my blood.”

— Follow reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.