The success 2015of Troy Bradley’s and Leonid Tiukhtyaev’s Two Eagles transpacifi c gas balloon fl ight in January of 2015 set an optimistic tone for the whole year. And when Balloon Fiesta time rolled around, a wonderful new on-fi eld facility was there to greet pilots and guests: the Sid Cutter Pilots’ Pavilion. The 12,000 square foot facility (with bathrooms!) replaces the big temporary tent used as pilot headquarters in previous years. A statue by Reynaldo “Sonny” Rivera of Sid in one of his favorite fl ying poses, with Albuquerque (see the articles beginning on page 36), his dogs Sombra and Coco along for the ride, greets but if there’s any one piece of that legacy that makes him visitors. smile in heaven, this would probably be it. Sid’s wife, Jewel, worked alongside Sid on the Balloon Fiesta for many years and today is still hard at it. She recalls that when she once complained about how hard it was, Sid replied, it was, Sid replied, “But look how many “But look how many people we we’re people we we’re making happy.” Sid making happy.” Sid left quite a legacy to left quite a legacy to OFFICIAL PROGRAM 237