ALBUQUERQUE – Officials with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta canceled the morning mass ascension Sunday due to upper-level winds.
They said balloons inflated but did not launch.
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.
