The Balloon Fiesta in 1999 came to accommodate the 20 Gordon Bennett competitors. the rescue when the Coupe Gordon In another fi rst, Steve Yazzie, became – in 1999 1999Bennett’s host city became unable and 2000 – the event’s fi rst Native American to run the event. For the second time balloonmeister, as everyone planned for what they that decade, the world’s distance gas ballooning expected to be a very “Big One” in the millennial year competition came to Albuquerque. The Balloon of 2000. Fiesta cancelled that year’s America’s Challenge to OFFICIAL PROGRAM 163