ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has negotiated for the release of U.S. hostages in Iraq, Sudan and North Korea. Now he’s trying to work diplomatic magic for Coco the Clown, Darth Vader and Burnie the Little Devil.
Those are three of 13 special shaped hot-air balloons that have been held for weeks in China in a dispute between a Chinese company and an American balloon event producer. Many are scheduled to fly at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which started Saturday and runs through Oct. 11.
Special shaped balloons are created in the shape of animals, characters or objects and are given their own names, much like cartoon characters. Last year, they made up about 13 percent of all balloons at the Albuquerque fiesta.
But this year, the World’s Biggest Shopping Bag, the Snowman, Sunny Boy, Nelly-B the Pink Elephant, Woodrow Greenleaf, the Air Ball, the Golf Ball and the Orange may not make it.
The dispute followed a change in shipping agreements at an August ballooning event in Guyang, Inner Mongolia.
A New Jersey company, Promo 1, signed an agreement with Shanghai Oriental Exhibition Co., a Chinese government-owned marketing company, to fly the balloons over and back by airplane so they would return in time for the Albuquerque fiesta.
Howard Freeman, chief executive of Promo 1, said Chinese officials changed their minds and wanted to ship the balloons — which he calls “the Guyang 13” — back by sea.
