Today’s podcast includes an event updated from the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta’s Executive Director Paul Smith and Director of Operations Sam Parks. The interviews on this podcast were recorded on Friday, April 30th

Websites mentioned in this episode include:

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta https://balloonfiesta.com

State of New Mexico Department of Health: https://cv.nmhealth.org/public-health-orders-and-executive-orders/

Visit Albuquerque https://www.visitalbuquerque.org

New Mexico True https://www.newmexico.org

Know Before You Go - COVID Information: Status Update, May 3, 2021

May 3, 2021

The 49th Balloon Fiesta will occur in 5 months, launching October 2-10

Planning continues for the 49thAlbuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the nine-day event will launch October2, from Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tickets will go on sale starting July 2, 2021 on BalloonFiesta.com. The 49thevent has more than 600 hot air balloons registered to participate.

On April 28, 2021, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham updated the Public Health Orders.

“The biggest thing for Balloon Fiesta is the Governor's expectation that we'll have 60 percent of New Mexico inoculated by the end of June,” says Paul Smith, executive director of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. “When that happens the red to green to turquoise framework should go away along with all the capacity restrictions. That means the current guidelines will be much more flexible for events like Balloon Fiesta.”

Even with the current updates to the Public Health Order, Balloon Fiesta’s leadership continues to work with the State of New Mexico to develop COVID Safe Practices (CSPs) that will enable outdoor festivals and in particular Balloon Fiesta to operate safely and within the parameters of those orders.

Among several changes for this year, Sam Parks said guest experience and crowd control will be included. “Concerning the onsite guest experience, we are looking at designing approaches to space out concessionaires around the field,” says Sam Parks, director of operations for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. “We are also looking at spreading out the popular special shape balloons around the 70-acre launch field, so not to have them all inflate on the same part of the park.”

The next update will be posted on BalloonFiesta.com on Tuesday, June 1, 2021.