In 1974, the park was used as the venue for an international heat of the Eurovision contest Jeux Sans Frontiers. From 1990 to 2008, the Racecourse held the Northampton Balloon Festival each August. The festival drew tens of thousands of people and was seen as a similar event held on a larger scale in Bristol.[1] Due to poor attendances due to a combination of bad weather and festival income, the council moved the festival to Billing Aquadrome in 2008.