fl ying from the fi eld on Thursday and Friday morning. The Special Shape Rodeo is an extremely complicated All the other balloons fl ew into the fi eld for our pole event to put on. Each shape requires a contract and grab events and other competitive events. Around the many of them need lots of crew. The shapes coming same time, since afternoon fl ying was so challenging, from abroad need vehicles. Some shapes are massive the Balloon Fiesta turned the afternoon Special Shape and you can imagine what shipping costs. The Balloon events into evening balloon glows, dubbed “Glowdeos.” Fiesta staff spends hundreds of hours making sure the As time went on, landing spots became increasingly Rodeo goes off without any problem. But the result is diffi cult to fi nd, especially for the large special shapes, a well worth it, measured in children’s smiles, awed stares, change was needed. In 2016, the Balloon Fiesta’s Event and the enjoyment of Balloon Fiesta guests. Director at the time, Paul Petrehn, came up with a plan that vastly improved the Shape Rodeo. He moved all the shapes onto the entire east side of the fi eld (where TT A W Main Street is). Those Shape pilots who wanted to fl y Y A could do so as long as they launched before balloons R O: participating in competition began to fl y across Balloon T Fiesta Park. Those special shapes that remained on the PHO fi eld would put on a static display as the competition pilots came into the fi eld to drop markers and do the very popular “drop a ring over the pole event”. What a treat for the public! They could see all the shapes and at the same time watch our most popular competitive events. The incoming competition pilots also enjoyed the new arrangement as fl ying into the fi eld can be quite spectacular seeing all the special shapes lined up along the scoring boundary. It also added a degree of diffi culty for competitors fl ying into the fi eld from the east, since it requires them to navigate over some of the large shapes. The Special Shape Rodeo and Glowdeo has brought in millions of dollars in cash fl ow into the Balloon Fiesta, helping to improve its solvency. It also changed how Above: Yoda! You seek Yoda! events all over the world operate. Most events now add Below: Special shapes lined up on the east side of Balloon Fiesta Park as special shape balloons as part of their show to increase competition pilots approach the fi eld from the west. revenue and value to their guests’ experience. Mark Sullivan, the current president of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (World Air Sports Federation) Ballooning Commission and a champion hot air and gas balloonist, is one of the co-founders of the Special Shape Rodeo/Glowdeo and the founder of the Ameri- ca’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race. Y SEL KIM VE O: T PHO ® 144 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta