Story and photos by Mark Wing (unless otherwise noted)

Betty Housholder is a long-time Tin Lizzies of Albuquerque member and a volunteer at the Albuquerque International Balloon Museum. As she has for over a decade, Betty coordinated our club’s show at the annual Balloon Fiesta. This nine day international ballooning event (Oct. 5-13) drew 650 balloonists from around the world and this year had 550 balloons participating. The final attendance this year is anticipated to be around 900,000 people. Like the popular TV show “Breaking Bad”, this annual event brings attention to our city from around the world. We showed our Model T’s on Sunday (Oct. 6th), the second day of this year’s Balloon Fiesta.

We arrived at the Balloon Fiesta site before sunrise, parked our cars using the special access passes Betty provided, and waited for the balloon activities to begin. We were lined up on the lawn on the north side of the museum with a view down toward the balloon field. We had a showing of 11 Model T’s and over 20 members at the event. Amusingly, four of the 11 Model T’s were 1925 model year coupes! We had some visitors viewing our cars, but not as many as in previous years as the nearest gate providing access to our cars was closed.

The weather was warmer than in previous years and the flying conditions for the balloons was perfect. The first balloons to take flight before sunrise was the Dawn Patrol, a group of approximately 2 dozen balloons that have positioning lights that allow them to fly in the dark. They began inflating at 5:45 and were airborne at 6am. Other balloonists observe the Dawn Patrol for information about wind speed and flying conditions. The photo galleries (below) are in chronological order and give you an idea how the day progressed for our club and the balloonists. It was among the best Balloon Fiestas we’ve ever attended. A big thank you to Betty Housholder for coordinating this very special and enjoyable day for our club and to the Albuquerque International Balloon Museum for inviting us!