Competition flights take place on weekdays during the Balloon Fiesta, with pilots flying a series of tasks: Above: The Ring Toss. The “Ring Toss” is occasionally called the “key grab,” because the prize atop the pole may be the keys to a new truck, car, or house. Begun in 1978, for more than 30 years this type of competition has been a signature event featuring some of the Balloon Fiesta’s most exciting moments. Pilots must launch at least one mile away from the field in any direction and use the winds to maneuver their balloon to the poles erected at Balloon Fiesta Park. The poles contain cash and prizes, and to Above: Balloon Fiesta Golf. win the pilot or passenger must place a ring over the top of the 30-foot pole. The “Balloon Fiesta Drop” (abbreviated, tongue- a baggie! In “Balloon Fiesta Golf,” the center of the in-cheek, “BFD”) requires pilots to launch a minimum target is a flag-marked golf hole, and closest to the pin of one mile away and drop markers on an “X”-shaped wins. target on the field. Closest to the center of the “X” wins In “Balloon Fiesta Hold ‘Em”, the targets are large – and the difference is often measured in hundredths of playing cards, and pilots must try to build the best an inch! possible hand by dropping markers on oversized playing The "Minimum Double Drop” is a variation of the cards. In some years, “Balloon Fiesta Blackjack,” a Balloon Fiesta Drop, but with the challenge of having variation of this competition, has been staged. to drop two markers in order to earn a score. Two “V” When it comes to recreating one of Sid Cutter’s fabled shaped targets are set up facing each other in this competitions, the “Sid Cutter Memorial” has everything manner: > <. The pilot must drop one baggie inside each but the water. Pilots drop their markers into or onto a “V”; markers closest to the point of the “Vs” win. A drop boat which, in the original competition, was moored in a outside the “V” does not score. lake. (Photo on page 227.) Fore! That object flying at the pin isn’t a golf ball – it’s ® 228 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta