ODE TO THE BALLOON FIESTA A poem found among balloon fiesta themes. A stunning fiesta comes to life on the first week of every October in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s where the world revels in hot-air ballooning. A sphere of international flavor guarantees it will be forever called the balloon capital of our planet. Pilots take passengers into rainbow skies at each enchanted morning sunrise. All who have come know it is a desert kaleidoscope called the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Before sunrise, skies accept dawn patrol balloons, a check to feel if the spirit of the winds will allow a mass ascension to get up. Picture perfect inflations occur as balloons are launched by zebra striped directors, a union of earth, wind and flyers. Nighttime balloon glows bring a colorful array of sights, a moving show of light. Each day pilots celebrate a mastery of gliding skills in bag drops, and descent and grab contests. Distant gas and hot-air balloon races bring forth the true spirit of internationalism. This fiesta moves balloonists to come touch the sky, to fly high in radiant hues and shapes. Called to mix with a magic in the air, then glide out of the blue to land and be retrieved by their mobile chase crew. No child seeing this mass happening can resist shouts of joy, cries of glee, a want to say, “Carry Me Away!” Visitors see a time when balloons paint the sky with countless flying colors and inflate their imagination to sense freedom is in the air. Some say it’s a great motion picture show, others know it will always be where the balloons of the world unite. As fiesta ends, balloonists know they have blazed a trail, and as always, “Time Flies!” John J. Candelaria
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Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta® 2021 Official Program
