Photo Tips

PHOTO: RAY WATT

a pin or start collecting during Balloon Fiesta is by purchasing pins from the offi cial Balloon Fiesta merchandise tents on the fi eld and/or from vendors on Main Street. Buying two or three provides extras that can be used as “traders”.

Most ballooning events produce “event” pins for the event itself as well as events within the event. The Balloon Fiesta produces dozens of offi cial pins for individual events, offi cials groups like Safety Offi cers and “Zebras,” and more! The Balloon Fiesta’s website includes a collectors page (https://balloonfi esta.com/1pins-archive) showing hundreds of offi cial pins produced over the event’s 50-year history; more are being added all the time as new pins are produced and old ones surface.

Sure, a picture is worth a thousand words, but just how much is a pin worth? As with anything, value is determined via supply and demand. Traders and collectors will search high and low for the “hot” pin each year at Balloon Fiesta. Those pins vary each year from the obvious (Darth Vader) to the unexpected (offi cial Pin Trading Day pins). Age is also a factor in value, as it is with most collectibles. As time goes by, who knows where people display or put them for safekeeping . The pin that you could fi nd for $1 at seemingly every vendor’s booth in 1982 might run you $50 today, assuming you can fi nd

one at all. Some individual pins today bring more than $300 each based on scarcity and demand. An average pin will usually cost from fi ve to twenty dollars. It’s a common sight to see vests, hats and jackets covered from top to bottom with people’s complete collections, regardless of value or maybe just one or two of their favorites. Locals and visitors alike always look forward to local celebrity newscaster Steve Stucker as he reports live from PHOTO: KIM VESELY the fi eld covered head to (nearly) toe with his favorite pins. Some people will happily trade what they proudly display while others would never dream of parting with even one of their many acquisitions. The Balloon Fiesta holds “balloon Above: Steve Stucker, festooned with pins! pin trading days” each year so traders can get together and swap pins, tell stories and catch up with friends they may only see once a year at the event. Other forms of collectibles have become popular how much is a pin worth? As with anything, value is over the years including patches, posters and trading over the years including patches, posters and trading cards. Trading cards provide a more aff ordable item for pilots and crews to give away to the growing number of balloon fanatics each year. Since 1979, AIBF has produced an offi cial poster for the event, and they have become quite collectible in their own right. The true value associated with a particular pin or collectible should always be the great memories it brings back every time you see it, wherever those might be.