This week on What’s Up Wednesday, welcome to 2027—calendar time, a T-shirt bonanza, and a word about those posters.
As promised last week, the official 2027 ExxonMobil Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta calendar is here and available for purchase. Be the first on your crew to start planning for Balloon Fiesta #55. With full-color photos each month, plenty of room to add notes beside the dates, and ballooning-history milestones throughout, it’s a great way to relive and enjoy Balloon Fiesta all year long. Even if you rely on an electronic calendar for your day-to-day schedule, you’ll enjoy having this one hanging on the wall as a reminder of the beauty of ballooning. Don’t delay—pick up your copy today.
Back-to-school season may signal the end of summer, but it’s certainly not the end of T-shirt season. We have quite the selection for you. Fresh on the heels of last week’s long-sleeve Chase Crew shirt is a darker-blue Balloon Fiesta long-sleeve featuring a silhouette of the Albuquerque skyline within the words “Balloon Fiesta.”
Or check out the ladies’ pink Love long-sleeve, with Balloon Fiesta and hearts in a variety of pink shades. Another option is the ladies’ Balloons and Roses shirt—a black shirt featuring a beautiful bouquet of roses with balloons woven into the design.
On the short-sleeve side, there’s a dark-blue unisex tee with balloons designed as building blocks. Or try a light-blue ladies’ V-neck featuring a gentle, subtle shadow of balloons on the front. We also have a cream-colored unisex shirt with a pastel design of balloons taking flight.
There’s also our ladies’ black-and-blue shard tee, featuring a bold design of five hot air balloons filled with a modern geometric crystal pattern in vibrant shades of blue. It is not dated, nor is the long-sleeve Balloon Fiesta baseball shirt, which features black sleeves, a gray body, and a full-color Balloon Fiesta logo on the front left chest.
Check out our entire clothing collection and start selecting your wardrobe for the rest of the year and into 2027.
Last week, we introduced this year’s official serigraph poster—and you loved it! In fact, the response was so strong that both the signed and unsigned editions sold out online. And that keyword is important: online.
Here’s how our inventory works. We buy a certain quantity of each item and divide that inventory among online sales, the Gift Shop, and the field during the event. This gives local guests the opportunity to purchase in person at our Gift Shop on the corner of Balloon Museum Drive and Alameda, gives out-of-town guests a chance to shop at BalloonFiestaStuff.com, and still leaves inventory for everyone who visits Balloon Fiesta and shops in our official merchandise tent on the south end of the field.
So, are we getting more posters? No—because we still have some. And we did shift some around, and there are now a few unsigned posters currently available online. If you’re looking for a signed poster, you’ll need to visit the field during Balloon Fiesta. We also have some metal prints available, and we were able to order a few more of those.
As you can see, it’s a balancing act: working within our budget, choosing the items we think you’ll enjoy, and deciding how much inventory to make available in each location. Thanks for understanding. And remember, by subscribing to What’s Up Wednesday, you’re among the first to know when these popular items are released. If you have friends still looking for a poster, or any other popular items, make sure they subscribe, too. :)
Finally, did you see? The Music Fiesta lineup and tickets have been released. Russell Dickerson is our headliner, with Dache as the support act and local favorite Nathaniel Krantz opening the show. You may also notice that the music moves later in the day on that second Saturday, with the Night Magic Balloon Glow happening between Dache’s and Dickerson’s performances. It should be a great evening of balloons and music.
Till next week, thanks for your support of Balloon Fiesta and Balloon Fiesta Stuff.