Balloon Fiesta, Post 5: Mass Ascension – Lift Off

After the balloons were upright and people were in the baskets, everyone would wait around for an official dressed in zebra striped clothes to give them permission to lift off.

There were a lot of balloons, and only a few could go at one time, so there was a lot of waiting around. I kept trying to get videos of them taking off, and it was hard to know when they were going to get to go. (I’ll post videos on my next blog post soon.)

Still waiting…

Finally a zebra-striped official would give the all-clear, and start madly tweeting on their whistle to clear the crowds. As the balloons slowly achieve lift, they hoover a few inches off the ground. The ground crew pushes them in the general right direction.

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