Ranked #62 in Events
From the festival founder's boast at a party in 1971 that he could fly his newly bought balloon, to an annual celebration that now draws more than half a million people to New Mexico, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a story of good times and friendships formed over decades of ballooning. An average of 700 balloonists from scores of nations participate in the October event, lifting off with the rising sun in the crisp Albuquerque air and floating against the turquoise skies and salmon-pink Sandia Mountains. Traditional balloons mix with specially designed balloons such as... more