Thirteen Balloons in a Parking Lot

The largest balloon event in the world began in the parking lot of a shopping mall.

On April eighth, nineteen seventy-two, KOB Radio in Albuquerque was celebrating its fiftieth birthday. The station manager, Dick McKee, had heard about a hot air balloon that Sid Cutter, a local aviation businessman, had recently acquired. McKee asked if they could use the balloon as part of the birthday festivities. Cutter said yes, and then the question arose: what was the largest gathering of hot air balloons on record anywhere? The answer was nineteen balloons, in England. McKee decided to try to beat it.

They ended up with thirteen. The first Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, held in the parking lot of Coronado Center Mall, drew twenty thousand spectators to watch thirteen balloons lift off from asphalt. It was, by the record books, a failure. It was, by any other measure, a beginning.

The following year, the event grew to include participants from thirteen countries. Then it moved to the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. Then it moved again to a purpose-built field in the north valley. Today the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, held every October for nine days, draws roughly five hundred balloons and nine hundred thousand visitors. It is the most photographed event in the world, according to event organizers.

The reason Albuquerque hosts it is meteorological. The Rio Grande valley, screened by mountains on three sides, generates a wind phenomenon called the Albuquerque Box in early October mornings. Near the ground, cool air flows south, guided by the mountains. Higher up, it flows north. A skilled pilot can launch, ascend into the northward stream, drift back over the launch field, descend into the southward stream, and land close to where they started. No other city in the world provides this consistently on the calendar of a large public event.