Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

September 29, 2007 5:33 PM

Are any mefites coming to this year's Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Oct 5th through 14th?

If there's even just a few people coming to town, we still might be able to organize a meetup.

posted by Ethereal Bligh to MetaFilter Gatherings at 5:33 PM (8 comments total)

Er, the 5th through the 14th, that is.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:36 PM on September 29, 2007

Hey, cool. A meetup that puts all that hot air to work!

Todays true SCIENCE! fun fact: Beers at MetaFilter meetups warm to room temperature 150% faster than beers not at a meetup. Which explains why we must drink so many of them.
posted by loquacious at 5:52 PM on September 29, 2007

If anyone isn't familiar with the AIBF, it's the largest hot-air ballooning event in the world. This year there will be about 700 balloons, most of which will participate in the mass ascensions on each of the weekend mornings. It's hard to describe what it's like when hundreds of balloons fill the sky.

Here's a time-lapse video on YouTube from last year which gives a (frame size limited) idea of the scope of the events. (Scroll to about 1:20 for a larger view on one of the morning mass ascensions.) This video is pretty good, too. There's lots of them on YouTube. Also a group on Flickr. It's supposedly the most photographed annual event in the world. You know how trustworthy such claims are, though.

Up to a million or so people attend the events cumulatively. Much of that count is repeats and locals, but, even so, all the hotels here and in Santa Fe pretty much get booked, as well as flights into and out of town at the weekends.

So, if anyone wants to make last-minute plans to come out here, I'd be happy to let people crash at my place, which is a small one-bedroom apartment, but I have a ridiculously large sofa sectional which can probably sleep two people.

I haven't actually gone in many years. Um, probably 18 years, actually. I'd like to go, and I might this year, but I can't walk around much. Of course, if you just live here you see all the balloons in the sky all that week (and many in the weeks surrounding the event, as well).
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:21 PM on September 29, 2007

Hey EB, I was looking for a thread that I thought was pretty recent in which you were talking about being a dj, and I was all stoned, and it was a good thread that I wanted to read again (goddamn short term memory, how I miss you). Did I just dream this or was it a deleted thread? I'm confused and hungover - help a brother out.

(and the AIBF sounds awesome, wish I could come)
posted by vronsky at 11:59 AM on September 30, 2007

It was in the MTV videos from 1982 thread.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:33 PM on September 30, 2007

and I wish you could come, too
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:34 PM on September 30, 2007

Well, I'm planning on going, anyway - not much of a meetup with only two people, but let's see if we can manage to run into each other anyway. I've never been involved in organizing a meetup, though. Should I just email you?
posted by wanderingmind at 10:10 PM on October 1, 2007

Wanderingmind, I'm not really up to going to the Fiesta unless a number of other people are going. It's just too hard for me to walk around.

But if you do hear of some other folks going, then email me and maybe we can all get together!
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 9:02 AM on October 4, 2007