Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – Balloons and So Much More
/There’s so much more to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta than the balloons alone. Though it’s balloon-centric, which is why we go, there’s a myriad of other entertaining activities going on all the time. More importantly, a certain pervasive camaraderie exists that’s hard to define. People are excited and thrilled and delighted and friendly. A shared palpable joy radiates from the crowd and it’s contagious. You just feel good about being there and experiencing it all.
There’s always commentary and music going on. The midway concessions and booths are buzzing. There are RVs and vans on display, chainsaw carving exhibitions, a car show, an entire crafts tent, and food offerings galore. There are skydivers, skywriters, jet flyovers, and even a balloon fly-in competition.
Especially after the past couple of years of isolation and fear, it was almost euphoric to feel this kind of pleasure again. See what I mean in the photos that follow.
Team Fastrax (above and below) was pretty awesome. The day performance was great, but when they skydived at night shooting off fireworks as they fell, it was absolutely amazing. According to their website, “Team Fastrax™ is the largest professional parachute demonstration team in the world.
“The team roster has more than forty active members with a culmination of more than 175,000 skydives. A Team Fastrax demonstration skydive typically consists of multiple members exiting one of our aircraft over a large crowd such as an airshow or major sporting event and descending to a precise landing, thrilling the spectators.”
Jeff, Synchronicity’s balloon pilot, really loves to delight the kids. Above, two little girls sat on the deflated balloon to help get all the air out. Hard work… but someone’s got to do it!
Then there’s there are the characters that we meet… like coyote man… Santa even made an appearance
and Mr. Balloon Fiesta really got into the spirit
The Anderson Abruzzo Balloon Museum was open each day. We visited last time and it was outstanding, but found there was too much going on to fit in a visit this time.
The balloon fly-in competition is fun to watch. Participating balloons dip as close to land as possible and try to drop markers into designated target areas.
An outstanding (unenhanced/unedited) sunset at Balloon Fiesta Park with a burner flame jetting up in the forefront.
And if that wasn’t enough, the weekend nights culminated in a fantastic pyrotechnic show that pierced the black skies with color.
It’s an exhausting, but exhilarating few days and the best part is knowing we can recoup and head back in 2022!
Stay tuned… David’s next blog will provide some trivia and fun facts about hot air balloons.