Do you usually stare up at the blue sky and think “Nice, but it could really do with some more flavour, maybe a few hundred giant rainbow coloured balloons would do the trick”?
Then have we got a festival for you!
Since 1972, this jaw dropping nine-day festival draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Special highlights include the Mass Ascension, where every single participating balloon, over 500 of them, take to the air at once. There is also the Special Shape Rodeo – which entails the simultaneous launch of non-traditional balloons into the sky. And then theoretically they, seeing as it’s a rodeo, try to lasso cattle from a few hundred feet above the ground. They don’t actually, how cool would that be though? And no trip to the balloon festival would be complete without actually getting up in a balloon yourself!
This festival is not all hot air though. Take a break from the skyward gawking, and head over to the festival's concert stage and enjoy Music Fiesta. With an entire day of performances from some of country music's biggest acts, it’s a great way to kick back and listen to some amazing tunes in between staring at the sky and declaring “That one is my favourite. No, that one. Oh wait, look at that one!”
Next year’s festival takes place from October 3-11, 2015.
United States
Italy
Brazil
China