By 2000, the problematic late afternoon Special Y Shape Rodeo flights SEL on Thursdays and Fridays (it was almost KIM VE always too windy for O: T free flights) evolved PHO into nighttime balloon glows – dubbed Glowdeos Clockwise from above: The original Luminaria Tour Bal- OIS – exclusively for loon Display, Christmas Eve at the Albuquerque Country JE Club; All burn!; The magic of the Balloon Glow, where night special shape turns into day. DEBER balloons. Eventually, UL yet another glow, A O: P the Twilight Twinkle Fast forward eight years, to the 1987 Balloon Fiesta. T Glow – was added By this time, many balloon events featured nighttime PHO on the first Saturday displays, and Bill Bussey had invented the name night in conjunction “balloon glow” for his event in Plano, TX. But not the with the scheduled (but often postponed) launch of the Balloon Fiesta, which was still exclusively a daytime America’s Challenge gas balloon race. event. 1987 was the 75th anniversary of New Mexico Today’s Balloon Glows are truly family evenings out. statehood, and to celebrate the milestone, Scott Moms and dads, kids of all ages, uncles and aunts, Appelman (now the owner of Rainbow Ryders) came up grandmas and grandpas, bring picnics or sample the with the idea of doing the biggest balloon glow ever held. Main Street food booths and reconnect on the grass at Balloon Fiesta officials agreed, and 300 pilots signed up Balloon Fiesta Park, surrounded by a forest of glowing to participate. balloons. In the town square of world ballooning, On the night of October 4, the weather was perfect for people from all over the world gather on the noche a nighttime static display. (A nighttime ascension would encantada – the enchanted night – that is a Balloon not be practical because the pilots can’t see landing sites Fiesta balloon glow. in the dark.) As the sun set and evening crept in, dozens of balloons stood inflated at the old Balloon Fiesta Park Kim Vesely, the editor since 2003 of the Balloon (now the main RV park), surrounded by thousands of Fiesta’s Official Program, is one of the co-founders of the guests. All the pilots had AM radios tuned into KOB radio, original Luminaria Tour Balloon Display in 1979. Over which was broadcasting the event live. At the mobile more than 45 years, she’s been involved with the Balloon studio on Concession Row, announcer Larry Ahrens and Fiesta as a television journalist and color commentator, Assistant Balloonmeister John Davis began to count launch director, and board member. She currently is the down for the first “all burn”, the moment when the pilots America’s Challenge Command Center media liaison and would all light up their balloons at once. No one knew a reporter/commentator for Balloon Fiesta Live! quite what to expect. The count hit “0”, and with a deafening roar a tidal wave of light, heat, and noise crashed across Balloon OIS Fiesta Park. Night turned into day on the field as 300 JE candles/light bulbs/balloons lit up, and the heat could be felt all the way across Concession Row. Everybody DEBER stood entranced and open-mouthed – pilots, crews, UL A spectators. O: P T As the pilots turned off their burners and light and noise faded, the roar of the burners was replaced with a PHO different roar – thousands of people cheering at the top of their lungs. It was an electric instant – many who were there still get goose bumps when they talk about it. It to this day is one of the great moments in the history of the Balloon Fiesta. Of course, the Balloon Glow immediately became an annual event, and drew more guests than even the morning Mass Ascensions. A second glow, the Night Magic glow on the last Saturday, was soon added. ® 138 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta