Opening night set the tone for one of the largest attendances ever at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. More than 828,000 people attended the 50th anniversary of the event, according to figures released by festival officials.
“Opening day, I’ll say, was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen at Balloon Fiesta Park,” Sam Parks, the director of operations for the Balloon Fiesta, told KOB. “All of our parking lots were full, all of our Park and Ride buses were full. I don’t know where we could have put another single person.”
Other figures connected to the Balloon Fiesta included: 648 balloons at the Balloon Fiesta; 130 special shapes; 20 countries represented; 1,144 navigators/volunteers; 775 media representatives from 158 organizations; and 1.6 million live views.
The weather was a constant factor as many Balloon Fiesta events were canceled due to unsafe flying conditions and thunderstorms on two different nights.
“We have a public safety team that meets literally six months out and those meetings take place every month,” Parks said. “So those types of scenarios, including weather, are actually practiced in what we call tabletop discussions for when something like that does happen, our public safety entities are already prepared for it.”
New parking initiatives, including a new ramp for exiting the park off I-25, helped with traffic conditions.
“APD is already giving us a debrief on how that worked,” Parks said. “It was a huge improvement, being able to exit the Balloon Fiesta Park directly and go south on I-25 was a gamechanger this year.”
Balloon Fiesta reps also said they are working on different ways to improve their Park and Ride services for next year.