UFO or Just Hot Air/

An unfamiliar shape will be hovering over the skyline of Arkansas next spring. We hear Alltel Inc. is planning to order a new hot air balloon for the new year. Although the company wouldn’t reveal the shape of the new balloon, a spokesman promises that it will be unique, not the traditional reversed teardrop.

Alltel already has three solid blue balloons emblazoned with its logo that are flown all around the country. One was recently seen on the University of Arkansas campus when the company provided free tethered rides before the Arkansas/Mississippi State football game and then later when the balloon was in free flight over the city of Fayetteville.

Joining the blue balloon in free flight was a Razorback balloon and a balloon owned by RE/MAX Associates Realtors Inc. of Fayetteville. The three caused quite the traffic jam on the south side of town as motorists stopped their cars on the sides of roads and craned their necks to watch them float away.