Glow-Dee-OH!

The GlowDeo of the Special Shapes balloons finally happened!   And it was definately worth waiting for.

However, you are spared many photos.  One really needs to have a swivel-head, an ADD-free brain and lightening-quick reflexes to get good pictures.  However, I accidentally got one of the Cat Balloon.

It was amazing to be among all those balloons going Whoosh at different times to light up.   Some looked much prettier than others; for instance, Darth Vader was a completely black balloon and he had virtually no glow. 

There is a Field Announcer that does a count-down for an All Balloon Light but that just put my brain cells into overdrive when all the balloons whooshed simultaneously.  The Whoosh of the propane burners is a short squirt to prevent the balloons from rising.

Everyone--fiesta attendees, balloon crews, security guys on ATV's, vendors, cops on horses--was down on the Launch Field among the balloons.  The balloons start out neatly-folded up on their assigned grids.  Then the crews start filling them with air. 

Sometimes the Balloon owners provide goodies and special effects; in the case of the Energizer Bunny, they were giving out silly pink foam bunny ear headbands that everybody was wearing.  For the Orient Express train, they had Very Loud Train Sounds that could be heard over the entire fairgrounds.




 Watch the chipmunks come to life!  

In this pic, Chip and Dale are both lying next to each other, resting while hot air is blown into their innards.  I thought they looked sweet lying there together so I planted my chair down and watched the entire process.

  Next, Chip slowly stood up!

Finally, they were both upright; they seemed happy to be facing each other.












The balloons didn't actually FLY for this event; it was more about lighting them up from inside and experiencing an otherworldly vision of ordinary things towering over you and seeming to come alive.  Also, it was about trying to avoid getting tangled in the ropes that helpers were constantly adjusting trying to keep the balloons ON the ground inside their grid.  Everytime hot air was blown inside one, it wanted to lift off!

It was really a lot of fun and I plan to go again tonight which is the last Special Shapes Glow.  I am leaving tomorrow morning to go to a nearby suburb of Albuquerque, Edgewood, where friends Tuna, Laura, T'resa and Christopher are welcoming me for a short visit.