Up, Up and Away

…in my beautiful balloon! Have you had to plan a hot air balloon event? They are so rare in my area. I have maybe seen a single balloon near my house twice in 50+ years. Occasionally I would see one as my family traversed the Midwest in our woody station wagon towing our Starcraft camper. My husband has shown me pictures of a fascinating balloon event in New Mexico that happens every year that was just mesmerizing. I can’t remember what got me thinking about this but as I did, I wondered what went into planning a hot air balloon event, so I looked it up.

The annual balloon show in New Mexico is a great case study because it’s nine days long, has hundreds of hot air balloon entries, many activities, and thousands of attendees. The event team has to be fantastic as there are so many moving parts. The number of logistics and the length of the event planning checklist has to be a sight to behold. They don’t just light up the balloons and let them go, this event contains an entire agenda of supplemental events that surround the balloon-centered activities. There is a lineup of performers on a main stage, a skydiving team jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, nightly fireworks displays, and twice daily drone shows; not to mention the chainsaw carving demonstrations, followed by an auction of the art that was made. Then there are all of the logistics of hosting thousands of people for nine days: food, bathrooms, seating, parking, safety, medical, traffic control, shuttle buses, and so much more.

New Mexico is probably the only place in the US this event could be held for the amount of open space needed to accommodate the number of balloons, activities, and people, not to mention all of the chase vehicles, attendee cars, porta potties, vendors, stages, food trucks, seating areas, and more. You can schedule a balloon ride or just watch the balloons take off every day. You can attend one day or all nine days. But you’d better be an early bird, because everything starts at 5:45am.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, the foundations of planning an event are almost the same: date, time, location, registration, goals and objectives, marketing, and on and on. However, with a hot air balloon show, there are some very specific details to deal with. We’re now taking to the skies. There’s pilot and crew certifications, FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Radio Regulations, Air Traffic Control, Regulated Air Spaces, and everything that comes with flying, landing, and filling a hot air balloon. The list just tripled.

I am sure the amount of liability insurance that this event requires is tremendous. And, without a doubt, those participating and those attending have all accepted personal responsibility for their own liability and waived rights related to the event when they signed up or purchased a ticket. The number of places on the website that warns people about the ropes means to me that it’s an issue. I can only imagine the number of sprained ankles at the medical tent for an event like this. The warnings say not to go over or under or near any ropes as the balloons can shift direction at any time. Uh, hello… it’s a balloon. And, if those ropes aren’t neon colored, well, shame on the balloon pilots or event hosts. And with all of the helium required, you can guarantee there is no smoking allowed anywhere within a 10-mile radius of the area.

There’s a very unique ticket structure for the event. There are morning activities and afternoon/evening activities. Each one of these is a “session.” Your ticket purchase is only good for one session. So, if you’re attending for one day, you will need two tickets; one for the morning and one for the afternoon. Four of the days only have morning events, so if you’re attending all nine days, you’ll need 14 separate tickets. Plus parking, plus either a hotel room or a camp site, plus meals. And that’s if you’re attending. I’m not sure what the cost is for the pilots and crew or how many additional days they are on-site. This is a commitment.

The event has a language all of its own too. After the morning drone show, “Dawn Patrol” takes off. This is a group of hot air balloons who launch in the dark and fly long enough for the sun to start to rise and there’s enough light to land. They hover up and down, sometimes choreographed to music. This allows the other balloonists to survey the wind speeds and directions at different altitudes before a full “Mass Ascension” which is just like what it sounds. A “Morning Glow” is where balloons that are still tethered to the ground light up and inflate so participants can walk around and take a look at the various designs. There is a separate event called the “Special Shape Rodeo.” This is for those balloons that look like animals, cartoon characters, or other objects. There are photos of these on the New Mexico Balloon Festival website. It’s worth a few minutes of mindless scrolling to check them out.

If you have the chance to work on a hot air balloon event, I’d recommend contacting the planners of this particular one. I imagine they have a great task list you could adapt as well as provide invaluable insights to help you get started. Certainly they could inform you of things they have learned along the way and pitfalls to watch out for. I’m not a big fan of heights, but I think seeing this event in person or being on the planning team would be amazing.

Have you worked with a team planning a hot air balloon event? Share one thing
we need to watch for here or send me an email.

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All references and information came from the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta website. 2026.

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