For a Labor Day weekend, Anderson County is certainly going to be working hard.

The Anderson Sports and Entertainment Complex will be hoppin’, jammin’, smokin’, rockin’, rollin’, hangin’ and chillin’ from Aug. 29 through Sept. 1 as the second annual Great Southeast BalloonFest kicks in on Friday. But it’s not just balloons and concerts this time around. With a second year comes a whole lot more.

“I can tell you that we feel a lot better this time around than this time last year,” said Charles Wyatt, executive director of the Civic Center of Anderson and BalloonFest entertainment coordinator. “That inaugural year there was a lot of first-time stuff, but this time everything went a lot smoother.”

It all starts, organizers said, with the hot-air balloons. Dozens and dozens of hot-air balloons have been competing for the National Balloon Federation’s top prize since Aug. 25. Many will also be on hand from Friday through Sunday for tethered rides, the nightly balloon glow and morning rides for sponsors and customers alike. There will also be balloon viewings each morning as well at take-offs and landings around the Sports and Entertainment Complex.

What goes on under those balloon flights is where the festival presents itself. The Great Southeast BalloonFest came into being when Freedom Weekend Aloft was moved to Simpsonville in 2007. That same year, Anderson County took ownership of its own balloon festival and got it started within months.

“The main reason this was easier is we know what to expect,” said Fred Foster, executive director of the Great Southeast BalloonFest. “We were able to build on sponsors, build on volunteers and build on the entertainment we had.”

One building block has been the outdoor concerts at the William A. Floyd Amphitheater on the Civic Center grounds. Friday night is the country concert featuring up-and-comer Danielle Peck opening for Alabama lead singer, Randy Owen.

“You’re talking about playing with Randy Owen,” Peck said excitedly in a recent phone interview. “I can’t wait to get on stage and play this concert for Anderson.”

Saturday is the rock concert with opening acts Kenny Floyd, a native Andersonian, and the band needtobreathe, which originated in Seneca. They will open for Jakob Dylan, son of music legend Bob Dylan, and his band, The Wallflowers.

For The Wallflowers, this is part of their first tour in two years.

The music rounds out Sunday when the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium performs selections from the “Star Wars” score by John Williams alongside a laser light show and fireworks display.

“If Mother Nature cooperates, we could have one of the biggest turnouts for the concerts we have ever had,” Wyatt said. “The ‘Star Wars’ approach was genius and when you add in everything else you can do, it’s going to be a great event.”

Then there is the addition of the Great American Rockin’ Rib Rock-off, which will run throughout the event. JesterCo. out of Greer had been looking for a place to hold their event, which consists of 100 barbecue competitors, five grand barbecuing champions, the broadcast of sporting events on a huge, outdoor screen and a local battle of the bands. They found their partner in the Great Southeast BalloonFest.

Jeremy Cooper is the executive director of JesterCo. He called the partnership of the Rockin’ Rib Rock-off and BalloonFest as a match made in heaven. The rib event will bring in more food, more entertainment and more people who might not have made their way to the festival before, he said.

“It was the right place at the right time for both of us and we should be able to help each event grow together,” Cooper said.

The Rib Rock-off will take place in the Civic Center parking lot and include more than 100 barbecuers, a giant, inflatable 30-foot screen that will show the Clemson/Alabama game on Saturday and the NASCAR Pepsi 500 on Sunday, booths dedicated to helping people quit smoking and a battle the of bands with more than 20 local acts vying for thousands of dollars in prizes.

And the people will be able to take part in the judging of the event.

“We will offer about 100 or so people .. around $20 to sample all the barbecue out there in a day,” Cooper said. “They will be able to vote on their favorite and have a say in the ultimate winner.”

There will also be plenty of samples for sale and proceeds to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Oh, and there will be rides, carnival games, demonstrations, sporting tournaments, an Electric City Classics car show and a whole lot more going on all weekend long.

Again, there will be a fee of $5 per vehicle to park, but no admission charges. Rides, food, drink and the Friday and Saturday amphitheater concerts will be an additional cost as will the BeerFest and WineFest taking place in the Civic Center.

“It’s like three, no four, events piled into one weekend,” Foster said. “If we can’t bring people out for this, I don’t know what they will come out for.”