The repair of Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after the International Balloon Fiesta Oct. 1 – 9 is underway.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world attended the event during the 50th edition of the balloon festival, according to a KRQE report. Rain during the week added to the damage inflicted on the landscape, though it could have been worse if preparations for wet weather were not in place.
“We make sure we have the tools and the people on-site, so we can repair any ruts that we find, and we made sure to have our irrigation turned off ahead of time,” Parks and Recreation Assistant Director, Shay Armijo, told KRQE.
The department tried to be proactive in areas that needed extra care, Armijo said.
“We would barricade it off, so we would prevent vehicles from getting on it to cause more damage,” Armijo said. “It's not a solution that we can fix immediately especially knowing it’s going to rain continuously.”
Crews began repairing the park once the festival ended.
“What we’re actually doing is aerating; we are trying to pull plugs so that we can get some of that water to drain down,” Armijo said. “We’ll be putting compost and sand mixture on top and then repairing any irrigation problems that we run into. Because we were on site so often, and we were able to make repairs quickly, and cordon off sections, we were able to prevent a lot of damage from happening.”
Time is of the essence considering events are scheduled to start at the end of October.
“This is a park that has a high use, so we do have a quick turnaround to make sure the park is ready to rock-n-roll,” Armijo said.