Annual fiesta takes flight
OCT
‘18
Elizabeth Quinlan
BALLOON MAGAZINE
1 OCT. 15
International fiesta celebrates happy 40th Cat Rooney EPOCH TIMES STAFF
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — “Every flight is different,” John Kugler, veteran hot air balloon pilot explains. “It’s all exciting. It hasn’t changed since day one; it is still exciting.” Kugler, from McClint Nebraska, has participated in the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta for the last 20 years and has been ballooning for 30. His dad got him into this aeronautical hobby. “He always had an interest in flight, and from college one Sunday I called him and said, ‘Hey, Dad, I’m going to need more money. I’m going to buy a hot air balloon.’ And the rest is history.” The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta started 40 years ago as a local radio station birthday promotion. It began with just a hand full of hot air balloons, 14 years after the modern hot air balloon was designed. The annual Balloon Fiesta continues to be warmly embraced by the city of Albuquerque. It has grown to 600 balloons and 100,000 spectators and claims to be the largest balloon gathering in the world and the one most photographed.
photos by THE EPOCH TIMES
BALLOON MAGAZINE
2 OCT. 15
“Every flight is wonderful,” Jan Patterson, Kugler’s co-pilot said after their balloon landed with several other balloons in an open city lot. Patterson got hooked on ballooning while living in Albuquerque and later moved to Omaha, Nebraska where she joined the Nebraska team. She has been driving from Omaha to the Fiesta for the last 22 years in order to participate as a balloonist. Kugler’s group also included a three member chase team. They came from different parts of the U.S. specifically to be on the team. They follow the balloon in a truck while in flight, meet up with the balloonists to help with landing and packing up the balloon, and join in the after-flight traditions. Balloonists and their teams are known to celebrate the landing with a toast of Champagne or beverage of choice, followed by a tailgating party. “It’s not just about flying” says Kugler. What holds his interest in this expensive and often dangerous recreational sport is the whole experience: “There is more to it,” Kugler said. “[It is] the landing, everything, the people, and the food. You make friends.” Patterson concurs, “It is about the people you only get to see once a year, the other balloonists.”
On the Cover A hot air balloon gets ready to sail into the sky. Page 1, 2 People meet outside the grassy field as balloons pepper the ground. Right A sunflower balloon shines in the evening shadows. Below Early in the day balloons begin floating into the blue sky.
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It’s not just about flying, there is more to it— the landing, everything, the people, and the food. You make friends.” It is about the people you only get to see once a year, the other balloonists.”
“ Below A large, red, white and blue hot air balloon is preparing for flight. By using a burner to heat the air inside the nylon material, it becomes lighter than the cool air outside, lifting the balloon into the air as though it were in water.
Elizabeth Quinlan
BALLOON MAGAZINE
3 OCT. 15