As spectators, tourists and balloon enthusiasts walked into the Balloon Fiesta Park Sunday, they were greeted by the smell of breakfast burritos, hot coffee and the whooshing of hot air.
This year's Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which began Saturday, lasts through Oct. 14. About 20 percent of all the balloons in the world come to the fiesta, making it the largest gathering of its kind in the world, according to the fiesta Web site. The event is Albuquerque's largest, with more than 800,000 spectators last year, it said. On Sunday, the balloon field was empty at first - slowly filling up with pilots, their crews and spectators who constantly snapped pictures.
Soon, balloons unfolded - their bright colors lighting up the ground and sky as the sun began to rise.
Lynn Paul, a volunteer for the charity organization Beta Psi, said that her favorite part of the Balloon Fiesta is getting to see the out-of-towners.
Aside from the many tourists, the event welcomes children who point, ask questions, gaze and strain their necks to get a better look at the balloons.
Katie Gordon, a petite child standing with her young brothers from Tennessee, described her experience in Albuquerque and at the Balloon Fiesta.
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"Fun, fun and too fun," she said.
Others' experiences involved slightly more than being a spectator.
Lauri Lipponen, a crewmember of the Yookit, a balloon owned and piloted by Phillip Sulko from Medford, Wis., said he was enjoying the fiesta despite his work.
"Crewing is fun and people are friendly," he said.
He said his job entails taking the balloon out of the truck, setting it up and jumping back into the truck to chase and dismantle it. Then he, like other balloon-crew members, does it all again the next day.
