Rio Grande Arts and Crafts Festival 30th Annual Balloon Fiesta Show Attendance
The land motto of New United mexican states is "Country of Enchantment." This is especially true in the weather-perfect month of October when the city of Albuquerque comes alive with the sight of hundreds of colorful hot air balloons filling the deep bluish sky.
For the past 48 years, the Albuquerque International BalloonFiesta has been giving people both on and off the footing a visual feast of rare beauty.
What began in 1972 with a modest launch of xiii balloons has evolved into the largest ballooning event in the world — and the earth's most photographed event.
Over the class of a nine-day celebration before this month, about 800,000 visitors witnessed more than 550 balloons of all shapes and sizes float above the land'due south largest metropolis.
Balloon flows and glows
In the evening, most 200 balloons lit up the sky with balloon glows followed by spectacular fireworks.
Balloon pilot Gary Michalek has been piloting hot air balloons for 32 years, twenty of them at the festival.
"Flying to a higher place the surface of the globe, like really close to the footing or loftier up, I mean, it's unique," he said. "You take few types of aviation where you lot can just float higher up the ground, so yeah, after that first flight, it's like you lot're hooked!"
On this brisk, sunny day, he pilots his balloon high upwardly into the sky, and after carefully navigating the wind, lowers his arts and crafts close enough for unique views of the cityscape below.
It'southward a surreal feel to await effectually, above and below and see hundreds of multicolored balloons floating in the air with the scenic Rio Grande Valley every bit the backdrop.
Airship seismic sea wave
The highlight of the festival for most people is the stunning spectacle of Mass Ascension, when hundreds of balloons take to the skies at sunrise in a series of waves over the class of an hour or ii.
The i-of-a-kind display is best seen from the massive 32-hectare grassy launch field where visitors have an opportunity to get close to the balloons.
Jill Levin was excited to see an oversize balloon in the shape of a stagecoach hover over her caput.
"Look at that! Look at that stagecoach!" she cried out. "That is incredible! This is the nearly magnificent event in Albuquerque. … I've been coming out for 40 years since I came out here for college, and it's fabulous every single time. Can't beat it!"
"It just screams New United mexican states. I don't know another identify that has something remotely shut to this," said Reyna Naranjo, who was visiting with her boyfriend.
"Information technology's almost like a tradition to come every year," said a homo named Omar. "Every New Mexican knows that every time when October comes, it's balloon time."
Omar brought a family fellow member, 12-yr-old Jacob, who was attending for the first time.
"I've never seen this in real life because I usually encounter the balloons on TV, and that made me think, 'What if I was here in New Mexico one twenty-four hour period, and my cousins took me over here?' And my dream actually came true," he said.
WATCH: Albuquerque Balloon Festival Draws Massive Crowds
Best day always!
Seeing the balloons upward close is among the highlights of the festival feel says Managing director of Operations Sam Parks.
"One of the things that I heard yesterday, which really touched my middle, was a young boy telling his mother, 'This is the best day ever!' And so, when you hear things like that, it just kind of puts it all in perspective, and it makes you lot feel like you're doing a proficient thing," he said.
That's a familiar feeling for regulars like Gary Michalek, and something to aspire to for those still dreaming to come.
"This is on the bucket listing for every balloonist all over the world," Michalek said. "They have to come hither. And some proceed coming back, like me!"
Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_albuquerque-balloon-festival-draws-massive-crowds/6177811.html