June 5th is National Hot Air Balloon Day, and each year, cities around the world find innovative ways to mark this special day. In Albuquerque, New Mexico – which is home to the Balloon Museum – locals have found a number of creative ways to celebrate this iconic mode of transportation.
This year, the Balloon Museum offered discounted entry to its exhibits and paired up with local suppliers of coffee, beer, wine and ice cream to offer hot air balloon-themed promotions and to enable local producers to showcase their wares to the local community. As part of the celebrations, the Balloon Museum also commissioned a New Mexico Artists series, featuring local artists and their renderings of prints, posters and mugs designed with a ballooning theme.
National Hot Air Balloon Day saw similar events take place in cities across the USA, including Kansas City and New York. The Albuquerque celebrations are particularly notable, as the city’s annual hot air ballooning fiesta is the largest in the world, and it routinely attracts a host of balloons from around the globe. Events at the festival include piloting competitions, special shape rodeos and, of course, the night glows. Celebrating National Hot Air Balloon Day helps to bring the local community together to celebrate this aspect of their ballooning culture.
In the UK, Bristol is the undisputed centre of hot air ballooning, and there are hot air balloon flights to be had over Bristol, Bath and other areas of the south west.
