Tempe Marketplace to transform into hot air balloon wonderland

TEMPE, Ariz. (FOX 10) - Tempe Marketplace has gotten very creative over the last several months, installing some beautiful art installations, like giant candy and huge umbrellas. On April 1, the next installment is set to go up.

They're bright, beautiful, and will lift your imagination up, up, and away.

"I really was inspired by my daughter," said Emily Andrews, marketing director at Tempe Marketplace. She was talking about hot air balloons and I thought this would be really cool and fun.

Andrews is the brain behind this creative endeavor, but she's not doing it alone.

"Ryan Murray was able to create an incredible rendering and figure out the best layout," Andrews said. "And then David Nock was able to help execute how we build these balloons."

A 3D machine builds the hot air balloons and they're built out of styrofoam - layers and layers of it.

"They create a design file first," Andrews said. "First, they put it into this incredible machine and it cuts out these designs which then layer the foam [and then they] glue it."

There are two feet tall balloons, some are three feet, and others four. 20 total will hang in the district staging area at Temple Marketplace.

"[They're] all at different levels," Andrews said. "And that's why we made different size hot air balloons so they are scaled so that they can appear as if they re floating off into the distance."

"I picture it almost like those great scenes that you see in Santa Fe," Andrews said. "Where there are the hot air balloon races and rides where they are literally hovering up over the horizon."

Crews will start putting up the hot air balloon wonderland on April 1, and it opens to the public April 2.