Despite having seen pictures of this event for years, I didn’t have any idea how magical the Albuquerque Balloon Festival would really be.
Honestly, I had been a little ‘meh’ about the whole thing, partly because I’d heard how immensely crowded the annual event can get– I mean, it is the LARGEST balloon festival in the world, with over 100,000 people on the grounds each day of the event. Over a million folks attend the 10-day festival each year.
That’s a lot of people. So, I’d assumed it would be a bit of a zoo, and never went.
Until my van club sent an email saying they’d secured VIP camping at the grounds– meaning we’d be super-close to the balloon field, and if I got overwhelmed by the amount of people, I could find some peace back at camp. I put aside my reservations, and signed up.
When we checked in the day before the festival, we had a little section of the campground (OK, dusty parking lot) to ourselves– and because our vans were a great deal smaller than typical RV rigs, we had plenty of space.
It was fully 20 degrees warmer than a typical balloon fiesta– with temps soaring into the 90s, Mac was demonstrating the proper way to keep cool above– staying fully in the shade of the van, as much of the day as possible.
The thing with Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is: it’s not for night owls.
Wakeup is at the inhumane time of about 4 AM– that’s when the balloon “load-in” happens, which involves hundreds and hundreds of vehicles making their way into the grounds (noisily). With about 500-700 balloons per event, this is not a small operation– so they get started early.
Being in the campground, this woke us up– like it or not. No matter, the event got started before dawn anyway, so getting fed and getting inside was a priority anyway.
What struck me immediately about the Balloon Fiesta grounds was how open they were– one could simply walk up to the balloon teams that were assembling their baskets in preparation for the day. In fact, most of them didn’t mind (or even welcomed it) if we chit-chatted with them as they did their work.
These people– above all– were NERDS.
Aviation nerds. Balloon nerds.
They couldn’t WAIT to tell you about the conditions for flying (this morning, they were not particularly good, as it was windy AF), how they got into ballooning (seemed like lots of ballooning runs in the family), and how much a balloon costs ($50,000 new, $25,000 used).
This was the very first day of the event, and there was an “Opening Ceremony” of sorts. It was at this very moment that I should have realized what an awe-inspiring experience this would be. After the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner, the balloonists all triggered their propane burners: and BAM!
The sky lit up with flames, like a huge and beautiful set of signal flares.
This created an amazing effect! Seriously, watch the entire video below– which shows the ending of the anthem, followed by the bursts of flame into the pre-dawn sky.
I was awestruck for the first– but not the last– time at the festival.
But back to that weather concern: the pilots we spoke to mentioned there was a “hold”– which is when we noticed a yellow flag was flying above the control booth. Due to high winds (reportedly, 25 knots at 1,000 feet)– the launch was in-question. Nobody knew if they’d go up in the sky that day.
Which reminded me, the wind doesn’t care if it’s the opening day of the annual balloon fiesta– the weather was gonna do what it wanted to. And that might mean all the anticipation was for nada.
Everyone waited. And wondered. The pilots were in a meeting.
And after what seemed like forever, I heard the crowd erupt in a cheer– “Green flag!”– and sure enough, the Yellow Flag had been replaced by a waving green one. It was time to fly!
In the distance, I could see a row of balloons begin to inflate among a flurry of activity.
Fascinatingly, these massive balloons had to be held in place and anchored from the top by a human. As we watched the fills happen, one of the balloon crew would inevitably grab a rope and walk out and hold tension on the line– which attached to the very top of the balloon!
Watching the balloon teams handle the fillups was intriguing– these massive balloons were so large that humans fully walked around inside them while they were being inflated! The exacting nature of the tasks were clear– just a few people on each team were making this giant feat of aviation happen despite the sub-optimal weather conditions.
And did I mention the incredible proximity these teams were working in? See the below snap to get a sense of the tightness of the space– the amount of control these teams exhibited was insane.
(The balloonists below were one of the only all-female teams at the fiesta).
When the balloons began to lift off– and I gotta say, I was surprised at the speed with which they took off! After the slow filling process, once ready– they seemed to rise as fast as helicopters.
Don’t believe me? The video below will give you a sense of just how fast they released.
The “shapes” balloons were charming as all get-out– from wolves to foxes to Frankenstein to dinosaurs, these balloons were almost too adorable. The fox balloon was my absolute favorite of the fiesta.
As the balloons took off, the effect in the sky was pretty magical. The colorful balloons dotted the sky like fireflies in the morning sky. Their slow ascension seemed to make my mind drift upward with them.
It’s impossible to describe what was so compelling about this mass upward balloon drift, so perhaps this video will help crystalize it: watch until the end.
Now that I think of it, there really aren’t a ton of apt words to describe the Balloon Fiesta. So, I’ll try to let my pictures do the talking. The morning Mass Ascension continued…
And the shapes continued to get more and more interesting– culminating with Steggy, a delightful dinosaur, and two rescue pups with names on their collars.
And for all of you wondering if that balloon above is Jesus? Why yes, it is! “The Risen Christ by the Sea” specifically (looking a little too much like “Buddy Jesus” from the movie Dogma, if you ask me).
Now, for all those wondering about everyone’s general lack of sleep– this is the good news. There’s a huge hiatus in every day at the balloon festival, because the balloon teams have to go chase their balloons down. Literally. Teams speed away in their “Chase Trucks” to find where their pilots had landed, then disassembled the balloons again.
During this time, the rest of us napped back at camp.
As evening struck, we were back at it again, and so were the faithful balloonists.
The evening event at the fiesta started the way the morning did– with the balloonists jetting off their propane in bursts in the air. The effect of which was just as stunning as before.
The evening portion was made possible by a balloon team that first figured out how to light their balloons to be visible in the night– a technique demonstrated below. Watch as this balloon fills, and the impact of the light in there (you’ll see it switch off at the very end, so you can see what it looks like both with and without the additional light).
This night portion was pretty stunning– the way the light engulfed people surrounding the balloons, as well as lighting the balloons up like lanterns– was just stupendous.
I can’t say what I was expecting when I signed up for the Balloon Festival– but I knew by the end that whatever expectations I’d had were exceeded by a million percent. Perhaps the photographs and videos don’t do this justice– after all, hasn’t everyone seen a hot air balloon at some point?!
But there was something truly mind-bending about the balloons when all together.
The end of the festival featured fireworks– right over our campsite (which Mac was really unhappy about, for the record). This felt like it made the “VIP” campsite live up to its name, and was a lovely way to close out our time there.
Which brings me to a final tip– CAMP at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival if you can! I spoke to another woman who lived locally, her house being only 1.5 miles from the balloon park– and it took her nearly 2 hours by car to get into the grounds that morning. The traffic is REAL for those who stay in hotels or AirBNBs– so do yourself a favor, and save yourself hours of headache– and camp if you go.
There’s very few places I went in the van that I was keen to go back to– but I plan to return to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in the future (if plans work out). It’s an experience that made me feel small in the very best way– the same kind of goofy awe one gets when staring into the cosmos.
I can’t wait to return and see it again.
Posted by Sun
