Dates and times below are for the 2026 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Balloon events are weather dependent. Check the official event schedule and Fiesta updates before heading out. Krispy…
Read More
Scott Hughes and his wife, Lynn Gurnee, have hauled their Keystone Springdale travel trailer from Wyoming to Albuquerque for Balloon Fiesta every year since 2017. “It’s a way for us to see the…
Read More
JIM AHERN’S BALLOONING CAREER was peaking right as things were starting to take off. “I was in the airline business before ballooning,” Ahern recalls. “Back in 1978, ballooning was just a hobby.” At…
Read More
AT 5 A.M., DARKNESS HANGS LIKE A CURTAIN over Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta Park, hiding the riot of colors, shapes, and sounds about to be unveiled in the morning light. For now, you and the thousands…
Read More
1 Celebrate Spanish art. A signature summer event on the Santa Fe Plaza, Traditional Spanish Market celebrates the breadth and depth of Spanish art in the Land of Enchantment. From tinwork and wood…
Read More
1 Float over Gallup. Hot-air balloons mosey along dramatic canyons and over sandstone cliffs at the Red Rock Balloon Rally—the second-largest balloon rally in North America (and in New Mexico!)—which…
Read More
RAY BAIR FOLLOWED WHAT HE CALLS a “natural sequence of steps” into ballooning—from spectator to crewman to balloon owner to pilot. In 1973, Bair and his wife, Carol, attended the very first World Hot…
Read More
ON THE SCREEN, a massive elk with intimidating antlers and a tuft of grass hanging from his mouth moved over a ridge, keeping a watchful eye over two downslope females. We’d just begun debating images…
Read More
WHILE NOTHING LIFTS THE SPIRIT QUITE like the colorful balloon-filled skies of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta’s mass ascension, we’re here for all of it: the balloon rodeos, dawn…
Read More
WE KNOW YOU LOVE NEW MEXICO. So we asked New Mexico Magazine readers on Instagram to show us why—and did they ever deliver. Close to 400 entries were submitted using #whyilovenewmexico and…
Read More
