Mid-air proposal makes Thurston history

By Ryan Smith

06/16/07 June 15, 2007 10:44 pm

— Click image for slideshow


Gentlemen who’ve proposed: Consider yourselves outdone.
It wasn’t enough for Matt Kinzig to pop The Question at a fancy restaurant, a scenic waterfront or some other traditionally-opportune place and time. No, he had to go and raise the bar a couple thousand feet — literally — by bringing out the ring during a ride in a hot-air balloon aptly called “Diamond Girl.”
The perfect time came around 10 minutes after pilot Ken Kus lifted off from Allegheny College’s Robinson Field at Friday’s Thurston Classic launch. Kinzig said he and Kus had to wait until the balloon was positioned well enough that Kus could take on the extra job of videotaping the moment, being careful to not let the cat out of the basket, so to speak.
So, with a gentle breeze guiding the balloon’s basket across the blue sky, he asked. And she (of course) said yes. “It was amazing. And now we’re engaged,” said Kinzig.
“It was just great,” said Kinzig’s now-betrothed love, Jennifer Robinson. “It was the perfect romantic setting. ...I’m really surprised and happy.”
Kinzig, a news photographer at WJET-TV, said he started hatching the plan after riding along in a hot-air balloon on assignment at last year’s Thurston Classic. “I knew when I met her that she was the one. ...I knew I wanted to propose, and I really wanted it to be in a hot-air balloon.”
Robinson said she’d wanted to take a balloon ride ever since her grandfather had taken one. And the thought of Kinzig proposing in one had crossed her mind.
Before Friday’s ride, she said “in the back of my mind, I was thinking ‘that would be cool,’ but I didn’t really expect it to happen.”
And the moment was made “extra special,” she said, when Kinzig gave her the ring, custom-made from a ring that Robinson’s grandfather had given to her grandmother.
That experience “is something we’re going to remember for the rest of our lives,” said Kinzig. “That’s the way I wanted it.”
He thanked Kus and his crew, as well as WJET-TV News Director Lou Baxter and his colleagues at the news station for their help in pulling the plan together. Thurston Classic organizers said while there was an in-air wedding at a past event, Friday’s proposal, to their knowledge, marked the first in the event’s 19-year history.
Kinzig, 25, and Robinson, 26, live in Erie. Wedding plans, they said, will be forthcoming.
But not before they get their feet back on the ground.

You can go
Following are the times of all remaining hot-air balloon events for this weekend’s Thurston Classic. Times are subject to change or postponement due to weather conditions.
Today — Flight over Allegheny College’s soccer field at the Robertson Field Complex off Park Avenue at approximately 7 a.m.
Today — Launch at approximately 6 p.m. out of Allegheny College’s soccer field at the Robertson Field Complex off Park Avenue.
Sunday — Flight over Allegheny College’s soccer field at the Robertson Field Complex off Park Avenue at approximately 7 a.m.

You can help
It costs $40,000 to $45,000 to cover expenses for the Thurston Classic hot-air balloon event. All events are free to the public; funding comes from corporate sponsorships and donations by the public.
Persons interested in making a donation may give at one of the donation boxes at the event or may send a donation to: Thurston Classic hot-air balloon event, in care of Watts & Pepicelli PC, 916 Diamond Park, Meadville, Pa. 16335.

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