Balloon Fiesta’s mass ascension is canceled due to winds
Officials with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta have canceled the morning mass ascension due to upper-level winds.
They say balloons will inflate but not launch Sunday.
The 47th annual event got underway Saturday with hundreds of brightly-colored hot-air balloons.
It is held at Balloon Fiesta Park and draws about 1 million visitors every year to central New Mexico.
This year’s balloon festival theme is “Carry Me Away” and has mass ascensions scheduled this weekend, Wednesday and the weekend of Oct. 13-14.
The America’s Challenge, a race where pilots try to fly the greatest distance from Albuquerque, will not be held this year. It is scheduled to return to Albuquerque in 2019.
