ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.-
For the next 10 days, the skies above Albuquerque will be filled with floating color as hundreds of balloons are launched as part of the city’s annual International Balloon Fiesta.
This year’s events at the park will feature balloon glows, flying competitions, live music, a wine festival, wood carving competitions and a breakfast burrito eating contest–complete with the state’s infamous green chili.
But the main draw still remains the mass ascensions–the liftoffs of hundreds of balloons each morning from the park.
Thousands of fiesta visitors can interact with balloon pilots and crews on the field as they inflate and fly their balloons in the ascension, said fiesta spokeswoman Kathy Leyendecker.
“There’s just this wonderful feeling out there. Even with hundreds of thousands of people on the field, you still feel comfortable,” said Leyendecker, noting that last year’s fiesta attracted nearly 800,000 visitors.
In addition to the abundant hot-air balloons, 13 teams of gas balloon pilots from the United States, United Kingdom and Germany will launch their balloons on Day 2 of the fiesta to compete in the 11th annual America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race. Winning teams move on to compete in the prestigious Gordon Bennett Race, held in Belgium this year.
Albuquerque’s fiesta began in 1972 with a gathering of 13 balloons in the parking lot of a local mall. It grew to become the largest international event held in the U.S. annually and now is held on the 365-acre Balloon Fiesta Park in northern Albuquerque.
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