This is a celebration of fifty years of sport ballooning in Albuquerque. Imagine yourself standing among swaying giants at Balloon Fiesta Park as the dark of night dissolves. It won’t be long now. The sun precariously balances itself on the crest of Sandia Mountain and sprays daylight on the crowded launch field, pushing dawn out of the park, and allowing hundreds of balloons to flaunt their brilliant colors. It’s an awe-inspiring transformation — and this hardback book takes you there. And you are just getting started. Balloon flight, whether you are in the basket or on the ground, is serene, thrilling and magical. These pages have been carefully sequenced, allowing you to climb aloft, drift with the wind, touch the azure sky, marvel at the nylon armada, and finally glide to a gentle landing — in the same spirit that ballooning has landed Albuquerque on the world stage. The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is an annual convergence where balloon-lovers by the thousands reconnect every October. Ballooning is highly contagious in this mile-high city — a city in love with ballooning as evidenced by the hundreds of dazzling images floating in this very special commemorative book.