Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

35°11′46″N 106°35′51″W / 35.19611°N 106.59750°W / 35.19611; -106.59750

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly hot air balloon festival that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during early October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event occurring in the first full week of October, and has over 500 hot air balloons each year, far from its beginnings of merely 13 balloons in 1972.^[1] The event is the largest balloon festival in the world, followed by the Grand Est Mondial Air in France, and the León International Balloon Festival in Mexico.^[2]