A Ballooning Spectacle

INTERNATIONAL BALLOON FIESTA - A Ballooning Spectacle

Much like a hot air balloon, the International Balloon Fiesta began small, and rapidly transformed into an engaging spectacle. It immediately turned heads from all directions and still does today in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Sid Cutter & Tom Rutherford - 1972

It was 1972 when Sid Cutter and Tom Rutherford co-founded the event, originally intended to help celebrate KOB Radio’s 50th anniversary, then manifesting into a full balloon race.  This first event took place in the Coronado Shopping Mall parking lot. Surprisingly, Sid was only one year into ballooning when he unintentionally launched the balloon fiesta. His first flight being on a balloon he bought for tethered rides at his moms birthday party in 1971. Unsurprisingly, Sid was accustomed to the skies, as he became a private pilot at just seventeen years old, and served in the United States Air Force. Tom Rutherford was working for KOB at the time, but quickly dove into the world of ballooning with Sid, and also became a State Senator later that year. Quite accomplished men, even without the establishment of the International Balloon Fiesta!

In just one year, the event went from 13 hot air balloons, to over 120, the largest ballooning event in history (at the time). By 1978, there were close to 300 balloons, and nearly 1000 balloons in the year 2000. With numbers this high, the City of Albuquerque had to begin limiting balloon entries, mostly due to limited landing space.

With Tom working as a State Senator, he was instrumental in working with the city to find a more permanent solution for the growing event.  In 1986, the City of Albuquerque opened up the 78-acre Balloon Fiesta Park, where it has been held each year since. It is wild to consider that the Balloon Fiesta we know today consists of between 500-600 balloons, just over half of what it was in the year 2000.

Attendance Over the Years

From 10,000 spectators in 1972 to over 800,000 in 2022 - not to mention how many people intentionally view from local coffee shops, breweries, and nearby workplaces - this bucket-list event takes social media by storm every Fall, and fills the cool desert skies with wonder. The International Balloon Fiesta celebrated its 50th year in 2022, and we can safely assume it will keep drawing visitors from around the world for many years to come.

Sid is now referred to as the “father of hot air ballooning,” and even had a temporary exhibition at the Balloon Museum in 2023 highlighting his life and legacy. In 2015, the Balloon Fiesta Board of Directors honored Sid Cutter with a large statue at the park.  While Sid passed away in 2011, you can still find his wife and “first lady”, Jewel, at the Balloon Fiesta Park in that first week of October.

My Experience at the Balloon Fiesta - 2024

While my little family was there this year, we had the privilege of bumping into Jewel and snapped a couple pictures of her with Mark Sullivan!

As a kid in Los Chavez and Bosque Farms, New Mexico, I was used to seeing dozens of balloons in my own backyard. I’m not sure if they fly that far anymore, but it is no surprise that around that time (1000 balloons in 2000) there were so many that they might have gone further to find adequate landing space.

Here are a few of our favorite pictures of loved ones and balloons from the 2024 International Balloon Fiesta.

For a more in-depth history and timeline over the years, you can visit the Balloon Fiesta Website.