Albuquerque Balloon Festival

Author: Aakash Shah

Fall in New Mexico is a time of cooler temperatures and brilliant colors. The Aspen forests in the north paint the mountainsides. Albuquerque hosts wine, arts and crafts festivals. But what most visitors look forward to in fall is the colorful International Balloon Festival. The Albuquerque Balloon Festival is a yearly gathering of hot air balloon. Enthusiasts from around the world, come to in Albuquerque in the first two weeks of October. The event, which is the largest of its kind in the world, lasts nine days and includes a fleet of nearly 750 hot air balloons with pilots from throughout the United States and the world.

This convention has also become a major showcase of New Mexican culture and history and features numerous cultural exhibitions. The Albuquerque Balloon Festival has become a major event in Albuquerque every fall, attracting tourists from across the state, the nation, and even the world. The fiesta is one of Albuquerque’s largest tourist attractions and constitutes a major source of income for the city and local businesses. Typically, tourists and fiesta visitors take thousands of pictures of the balloons, so it is no surprise that for several years a photo film company sponsored the fiesta. This festival does not only celebrate the fun with balloons but also gives a huge lift to the business of local public to the city.

On any given day of Albuquerque Balloon Festival, up to 100,000 spectators can be seen on the launch field where they are provided with the rare opportunity to observe inflation and take off procedures closely. Countless more people gather at landing sites all over the city to watch incoming balloons. More than 700 balloons launch from 72 grass covered acres at Balloon Fiesta Park where guests can find opportunities to interact with pilots and their crews as they inflate and launch their balloons from the field. Hundreds of balloonists representing one third of the world’s countries launch their magnificent flying machines to float gently over the beautiful New Mexico landscape.

The Albuquerque Balloon Festival is an annual massive gathering of balloonists from around the world in Albuquerque, New Mexico held in October every year. This event is the largest balloon Fiesta in the world. It is a nine day event and includes amazing air balloons with pilots from around the world This event is held at various places in Albuquerque, New Mexico like Balloon Fiesta Park, Albuquerque Maps, Balloon Fiesta Park is located north of Alameda Boulevard, one mile west of I-25, Balloon Fiesta Park is located on the northern edge of the city being major of the places. Visitors can also enjoy the multi million dollar Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum on the grounds, which recounts the last three decades of the convention as well as a general history of ballooning.

The Albuquerque Balloon Festival includes many other events like evening fireworks, mass ascensions, balloon glows, the Special Shapes Rodeo, and the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race. But if you want to see the best of Albuquerque Balloon Festival, its “Balloon Glow”. The glow of the balloons at dawn or dusk is not only beautiful but it is the best time to take balloon photos. According to festival organizers, dawn or dusk create beautiful lighting opportunities where the warmth of “Balloon Glow” blends with velvet blue of muted skylight. Photographers call this “the jewel box effect”. So if you want to catch all that fun, join in the Fest as a balloonist or a spectator.