Albuquerque’s International Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day annual October festival that grew from a local 1972 celebration for 770 KOB Radio into the world’s largest balloon festival. Centered at Balloon Fiesta Park, it draws hundreds of balloons and vast crowds, helped by cool mornings and the “Albuquerque box,” a wind pattern that favors looping flights back toward the launch field. Long a center of ballooning, the city hosted the first World Hot-Air Balloon Championships in 1973, and the fiesta shifted to autumn in 1975. Its signature events include Dawn Patrol, mass ascensions, balloon glows, special-shape balloons, and competitive races, making it a major tourist attraction and cultural showcase for Albuquerque and New Mexico.