A U.S. Bank hot air balloon flies over Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center Thursday, September 10, 2015, during Balloons, Tunes and BBQ festival. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

The 2016 U.S. Bank Balloon Classic will be Sept. 9-11 at the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, organizers announced Tuesday.

“We’re doing a throwback,” said Craig Browning, Regional President for U.S. Bank’s South Central Kentucky region. “It was 1990 that the Balloon Classic came to Bowling Green and it has been a staple for Bowling Green for 26 years.”

The admission and parking for the Balloon Classic will be free. Tethered balloon rides will be $10. Inflatables will be $10 for an arm band.

“As long as children are being born, mothers, fathers, grandparents will want to take their children to see the hot air balloons,” Browning said. “What’s unique is the hot air balloons. We don’t have these every day in Bowling Green.”

Gates open at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 9 for Fruit of the Loom Family Night. The WBKO-TV Kids’ Zone and Inflatable Fair will be available. The Balloon Glow will be at dusk. Tethered rides will start at 5 p.m., weather and wind permitting.

Gates open shortly after daylight Sept. 10 for the first competitive fly-in and then again at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Balloon Classic will feature hot air balloonists competing for $10,000 in prize money. Competitive events will include the Hare and Hound. Inflatables will be available.

Untethered hot air balloon rides will be available again this year for a fee, weather and wind permitting. Rides may be booked at balloonclassicbg.com.

There will be no big stage at the airport this year, but Mercury Nashville recording artist Canaan Smith will perform Sept. 8 outside 643 Sports Bar. Smith’s debut album, “Bronco,” includes the RIAA Platinum-certified No. 1 hit “Love You like That.” “Bronco” debuted in the top five on Billboard’s Country Albums Chart.

“It’s difficult to get in and out of the airport and we want to showcase downtown,” Browning said.

Proceeds will benefit United Way’s 211 Contact Center, which works like 911 except it provides information about health and human services.

“It may be an individual who’s been out of work for a while,” United Way President and CEO Debbie Hills said, giving examples of who has been calling the center since it opened two weeks ago. “It may be a child with mental illness issues.”

The center has received more than 400 calls since it opened, Hills said.

“We’re averaging 200 calls per week,” she said. “We’re on track to answer 10,000 calls (a year).”

— Follow features reporter Alyssa Harvey on Twitter @bgdnfeatures or visit bgdailynews.com.