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The pirate-predominated delights in the tasting activity to be held ASAP to kick-off the HAA has what as its MO? Try BMO Harris, among other sponsors, as the samplings go for their seventh go-round

You don’t have to walk the plank to be part of this event, and there certainly won’t be a mutiny …
The seventh annual Taste of Hot Air Affair again kicks off the Midwest’s premier and longest running hot air ballooning event with the “Pirates Fly’n the Croix-ribbean” edition on Saturday, Jan. 26 from 7–10:30 p.m. in the Chateau Room at the Hudson House Grand Hotel, 1616 Crest View Drive. Another main sponsor of the tasting event is BMO Harris Bank, as they feel strongly about the value of contributing to community causes.
Enjoy spirits, wine and beer tastings, chocolates and cheeses samplings, along with hot hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. The evening includes live music by Boondoggle, a local group that over the years has honed its own style of down-home classic rock, and a wine pull and a silent auction fundraiser. Proceeds from this event go to to Hudson Relay For Life, and A Cloud Walkers Team Fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
Tickets may be purchased at the door for $20 per person.
Elsewhere around town, there have been great big white igloos (plural) constructed and available for use on the patio at Pier 500, for bringing added warmth to your party, even if it is outside in this current cold streak. They almost look like something out of a science fiction movie pod. Adding to that effect — and visible also around the roofing edges of Pier 500 — are in order the white “Christmas Tree” style lights off in the distance of both Dunn Brothers and the Smilin’ Moose, and beyond, and above, them are the purplish and blue bulbs, and their name in lights, overseeing Mallory’s Rooftop Bar.

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