The 2020S lanning for the Balloon Fiesta® is a year-round undertaking, which begins just a couple of weeks and a few nights of sleep after the previous year’s Balloon Fiesta ends. The event’s small permanent staff and Board of Directors dissect what went well and can be P improved from the previous year, and by the next New Years’, work on the next Balloon Fiesta is well underway. But 2020 was different, as the global COVID pandemic shut down normal life not just in America, but around the world. Even ballooning was not immune, as the 49th Balloon Fiesta was postponed for a year, or took a “Fiesta Siesta,” as it came to be called. By the next October (2021), despite lingering effects of the pandemic, Balloon Fiesta was back, with additional safety and hygiene precautions. Now, in 2022, the Balloon Fiesta celebrates not only its 50th event, but the 50th anniversary of that very first Balloon Fiesta at Coronado Center in 1972. It’s been quite a ride, and the only journey more exciting will be the years of beautiful balloon flights to come. PHO T O B Y VIC T OR B ANT A OFFICIAL PROGRAM 255