For its 15th birthday, 1986the Balloon Fiesta got a big birthday present – its fi fth new launch site. This fi eld, known as Balloon Fiesta Park, was a former city landfi ll, and it was as compact (just 77 acres for everything, including parking) as Cutter Field was expansive. In fact, some areas, such as propane refueling, were moved off site altogether. Read more about both fi elds in the article on page 126. 1986 featured another fi rst: the fi rst (and so far, only!) Balloon Fiesta snow day. On the last day of the event, pilots and offi cials woke up to funny looking white fl akes falling out of the sky, and it wasn’t dandruff . It didn’t take long for Balloon Fiesta offi cials to make the decision to cancel and tell everyone to stay home. The heavy wet snow did a lot of damage to trees around town, and instead of fl ying, some balloonists spent the day cleaning up broken tree limbs. ® 122 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta