2026 Taichung Shigang Balloon Festival

The concept of the 2026 Taichung Shigang Balloon Festival is “Take Flight from Shigang, the Happy Mountain Town.” The hot air balloon festival is transformed from a simple event to a medium for expressing local culture and Shigang’s brand identity, with the sky itself becoming a billboard for its mountain-town brand.

The design draws on Shigang’s distinctive mountain landscape, the Dajia River, Hakka culture, and local life to create a unified narrative of “sky, mountains, settlements, and people.” As the balloons rise, the landscape becomes more than a backdrop—it becomes part of the design. Every glance upward, movement, and moment of pause offers visitors a way to discover Shigang.

Since launching the festival in 2020, Shigang has continued to develop it as a brand. In 2026, a comprehensive visual identity system was established, translating the imagery of the sky and the balloons’ curves, ascent, and floating motion into a cohesive visual language that extends across the corporate identity system (CIS), key visuals, promotional videos, print materials, stage design, venue decoration, and wayfinding, bringing the brand’s graphic identity into physical space and creating a consistent experience from arrival and exploration to moments of pause.

Culture is transformed into aerial symbols that visitors can see, experience, and remember. The world’s only hot air balloon modeled after Mazu of the Taitung Tianhou Temple made its Taichung debut, bringing familiar elements of Taiwanese folk faith sky-high. Six balloons are tethered for visitors to experience, connecting local markets, family activities, stage performances, nighttime light-and-music shows, and fireworks, extending the festival from morning until sunset into Shigang’s nightscape for a full-day experience.

The design embraces local sustainability and cross-sector collaboration, bringing together water resources, Hakka culture, agricultural products, local tourism, and corporate partners. Government, businesses, local industries, and visitors all become part of the brand-building process.

Over three days, the festival drew nearly 210,000 visits to Shigang. Ultimately, the project created more than just a carnival; it established a distinctive, sustainable local brand system that can grow yearly—bringing people to Shigang for the balloons, but leaving them with lasting impressions of the mountain town itself.