Balloon Festival @ Elephant Butte

August 19, 2017

After our incredible trip to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, we talked to our camp host and he told us that starting the 19^th, there would be a Balloon Festival for the weekend. They held one last year which was a success, and the “word was out”. They would set up around 7am and go up soon thereafter.

The host said there were 18 balloons last year and hopefully as many this year. So at 6:00am we took our tea and coffee ‘to go’ and drove down onto the sandy beach to watch the balloons, along with, what seemed like, thousands of other people. It was not just campers at the lake that were there to see the rising of the balloons, but people from Las Cruces, Hatch, Deming, and from all over southern New Mexico.

The sunrise over the Reservoir was simply stunning, while we waited for the balloon troops to arrive. We watched as cars, trucks, campers, and walkers lined the beach, everyone vying for the perfect spot. There were also a myriad of boats, paddleboards and kayaks in the water wanting to be a part of the water scene. We thought it was a bit unsafe to have the water vessels so close… And in fact, at one point, an EB patrol boat backed most of them away from the shoreline.

We finished our liquid refreshment and still no sign of any troopers. Finally, around 8am they started rollin’ in. Then they seemed not to be able to find their perfect spot for lift off. They kept moving to this dune and that dune and then they just waited, so therefore we had to wait as well.

Finally, 3 small helium balloons were sent up to test the wind speed and direction. Everyone thought, oh, here we go, and got out their phones and cameras and moved around to get their shots. But it was another ½ hour until someone was brave enough to be the first one up in the air!

Eventually, at 9am they began filling the balloons with hot air, helium, and they started to inflate. Now all over the beach there were all sorts of brilliant colors and shapes crawling, like snails, on the ground, until they had enough hot air to inflate and lift up.

We had been to the Balloon Festival in ABQ years ago and it was so humongous that it was hard to get a sense of size and space, let alone try to get any pictures. Here there was space between balloons and it was easy to photograph the whole operation. The only problem that I would encounter would be that the sun was behind the intended subjects. Nothing is ever perfect in the photographers’ world.

As we watched the unloading of the balloons and baskets, we were so surprised at how small the balloons actually were when all rolled up – then when they started blowing them up, they seemed gigantic! An entire crew was needed for this operation: someone to run the generator and fan, several to unwrinkle the balloon cavity and still others to tether the balloon so that it wouldn’t take off without riders. After it is inflated, the fire–pit is attached to increase the heat for rising into the air.

The balloon that was up first went right above the water and we thought that was so cool, seemingly just skimming the surface of the water near the boats. Later, Patti told me that this first balloon never lifted above the water and she thought they were having trouble. She also noticed there was a boat crew that kept very close contact with each pilot for any problems. I of course, was just running hither and yon, taking countless pictures that would all look alike, with the exception of a few, so I did not observe any ballooning issues.

The pilots were doing ‘splash n dash’ which is landing close to or on the water, and then rising up into the sky. The water vessels seemed to be very near the baskets but no one seemed to be bothered by this close proximity – except for us!

All in all, we counted 17 balloons which we watched till they were all in the air. One of the balloons was a Civil Air Patrol, so I guess one must be on guard for the festival, or were they just having fun?

We delighted in the balloons “dance in the air” and on the water: mingling with the boats, kayakers, and paddleboards, till about 11am, when we got hungry and headed out. There were all sorts of tracks on the sandy beach and we wondered how many vehicles would get stuck and have to be pulled out – turns out there were quite a few. We went back to Rosalita and had breakfast, actually brunch, for we had not eaten before we left at 6:00am.

I got a few pictures from further away to end the series and thought how we had stumbled into this festival… No quiche, but we did get to experience the EB Balloon Festival.