Over 500 hot air balloons and their pilots gathered at Balloon Fiesta Park from Oct. 3-11 to embark across the enchanting horizons of New Mexico, celebrating 54 years of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
This year’s fiesta saw two days where weather prevented the balloons from taking flight — October 7 and October 11— the latter being the final day of the fiesta. During last year’s Balloon Fiesta, weather also delayed or prevented Dawn Patrol and Mass Ascension from taking off on multiple dates.
Weather conditions are detrimental for the fiesta because windy and rainy weather can delay or prevent take-off, shortening the schedule of events and air-time for balloonists. Monsoon season, which has proven to be unpredictable for New Mexico, may also last during early October, when the fiesta takes place.
Miriam Swisher, an employee of the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, spoke about experiencing a static balloon display.
“Most people are obviously from out of town, and this is kind of their once-in-a-lifetime experience, so they do get disappointed when the balloons don’t fly,” Swisher said. “I always encourage people to come down on the field, because, you know, I think even seeing them up close is still very cool even if they’re not in the air.”
Some larger balloons, including the Zozobra — the tallest balloon at the Balloon Fiesta — have stricter conditions for weather. More often than not, Old Man Gloom typically partakes in static displays.
Balloons were ordered on a static display for the final Mass Ascension on Sunday, Oct. 11. The wind above the ground was going too fast for balloons to safely fly, and headed in an unideal direction, according to Sheldon Grauberger, a pilot from Lake Tahoe who has flown in the fiesta for 14 years.
“Right above the ground (the winds) were doing 30 miles an hour, and you don’t want to land a bunch of people doing 30 miles an hour because they could hurt themselves,” Grauberger said. “It was a safety precaution to make sure that we didn’t hurt anybody.”
Despite the amount of rainfall in Albuquerque during the two weeks preceding the fiesta, which led to flooding in parts of New Mexico, skies were clear just in time for the Balloon Fiesta.
The Special Shapes Rodeo took place on Oct. 8 and 9, where fan-favorite balloons like Arabelle the Creamland Cow, Smokey the Bear, and Zozobra were able to take flight.
Multiple balloons were local to New Mexico, including SpyderPig, a pig in a Spider-Man costume, Cosmos the giant green alien head and The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center balloon.
The University of New Mexico’s balloon, “Cherry on Top” debuted in 2023 and has become a staple feature at UNM events and the fiesta.
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Amelia Celestin, a member of UNM’s marketing team, passed out “Cherry on Top” trading cards and pins as the balloon was prepared to be inflated with propane.
Celestin said her favorite experience of the fiesta is meeting alumni, current students, community members, and hearing about their connection to UNM, or the impact that the University has made in their lives.
“It’s an international event, so we meet people from all over the world and, you know, make them aware of UNM and kind of the things that we have going on in New Mexico that people might not know about,” Celestin said. “It’s a priceless opportunity to get UNM’s name out there and to celebrate what we’re doing everyday.”
This year’s fiesta showcased 13 new special shaped balloons, featuring 117 in total. A handful of these pilots fly special-shaped balloons and travel internationally to soar the fiesta; Master Yoda and the hugging bear balloon — called Hug A Bear — are from Belgium; Baby Dino Tropsy visits from Germany; Tico the Sloth is from Canada; and Frankenstein comes from Brazil.
This year, a particularly unique aircraft stole the majority of attention: Trappe’s Gas Cluster Balloon, a special lightweight gondola which was carried into the sunrise by 94 huge, helium balloons — a design similar to the cluster of balloons in the movie “Up.” The pilot, Jonathan Trappe, visited New Mexico all the way from the Philippines, and landed his gondola in Arizona after taking flight alongside Dawn Patrol on October 3.
The idea for the aircraft pays a respectful homage to Dr. Jean Piccard’s original flight, which was carried by 95 helium balloons — just one balloon more than Trappe’s model. Dr. Piccard’s model soared to 11,000 feet in 1937.
Joseph Chavez said he tries to visit the fiesta every year, and has typically been able to since the time he was born.
“I love to see — even if they didn’t launch today — I love seeing the, you know, the masses,” Chavez said. “You look around at all the masses around you and all these balloons just going in the air.”
Lexis Lovato is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @lovatolexis
