Hot Air Balloon Festivals



Hot air balloon festivals are held annually all over the country, attracting hundreds of participants, and thousands of attendees. Each festival is a unique, exciting, and often awe-inspiring event and if you have never attended one, you have no idea what you are missing!

Many of these balloonist gatherings have been held since the 1970s, and some have rich local traditions associated with them. Typically, hot air balloon festivals include several mass ascensions, where as many balloons as possible are launched in a short period of time, filling the sky with a spectacular cacophony of colors and shapes.

Other features of hot air balloon festivals include mass ascensions and displays of uniquely shaped balloons, various piloting skill and speed competitions, and "night glows" in which a great many balloons fire up their burners simultaneously, filling the night sky with an eerie and awesome glow that is hard to imagine unless you've actually been there to experience it.

The largest and most well-known of these spectacular events is the annual Albuquerque Balloon Festival, which is held in early October of each year. Balloonists love this event because the cool mornings, and a unique and highly predictable wind pattern occurring in October make for ideal flight conditions. In addition to the festival itself, visitors are treated to a variety of local historical and cultural events and displays unique to New Mexico, making the festival an enormous and multi-faceted event.

The Albuquerque Balloon Festival is said to be the most photographed event in the world, and attracts thousands of visitors every year. Motel rooms in the city and surrounding area sell out months in advance, so you have to book your reservations early. Numerous other smaller festivals are held all over the United States, so there are plenty of other opportunities to attend one.

Find a hot air balloon festival near you, and attend one soon. It is a truly unique experience! By the way, many include the opportunity for hot air balloon rides, so you can enjoy the event as a participant as well as being an observer. Do not miss out on the fascinating, unique, and exhilirating experience of attending a hot air balloon festival!



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