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Albuquerque Int’l Balloon Fiesta Brings Colorful Displays to New Mexico Sky

Nearly 500 balloons begin to take off during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)
Nearly 500 balloons begin to take off during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)
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Albuquerque Int’l Balloon Fiesta Brings Colorful Displays to New Mexico Sky

Nearly 500 balloons begin to take off during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)
Nearly 500 balloons begin to take off during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Roberto E. Rosales)

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has brought colorful displays to the New Mexico sky in an international event that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators every year.
The event started Saturday with a drone light show before sunrise followed by a mass ascension of hot air balloons. Over nine days, local residents and visitors will be treated to a cavalcade of colorful and special-shaped balloons.
The annual gathering has become a major economic driver for the state’s biggest city. The Rio Grande and nearby mountains provide spectacular backdrops to the fiesta that began with a few pilots launching 13 balloons from an open lot near a shopping center on what was the edge of Albuquerque in 1972, The Associated Press reported.
The fiesta has morphed into one of the most photographed events in the world, now based at Balloon Fiesta Park. Balloon designs have featured cartoon animals, Star Wars characters and even the polar bear found on Klondike bars.
“But they’re still all about the basics,” said fiesta director Sam Parks, who flies a globe-style balloon modeled after one flown by the fiesta’s late founder Sid Cutter. “You add heat to a big bag of air and you go up.”
Nearly 830,000 people from around the world attended last year’s event. Scheduled nighttime events include fireworks and balloon glows, in which hot air balloons are inflated and lit up from the ground.
One of the biggest events in aviation, the Gordon Bennett competition, also launched Saturday night. Pilots navigate hydrogen-filled balloons high in the air and the ones who fly the farthest win.
The balloons are different than those featured throughout the Albuquerque fiesta that stay local.
Some 550 balloon pilots are registered to fly during the fiesta, seeking to take advantage of a phenomenon known as the “Albuquerque box,” when the wind blows in opposite directions at different elevations, allowing skillful pilots to bring a balloon back to a spot near the point of takeoff.
Visitors to the event also can pay to go aloft for views of the Sandia Mountains to the west and New Mexico's capital, Santa Fe, farther north.

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China’s Frigid Northeast Thrives on ‘Little Potato’ Tourism Boom

This picture taken on December 17, 2024 shows people having picture with a snowman sculpture in Harbin, China’s Northeastern Heilongjiang province. (AFP)
This picture taken on December 17, 2024 shows people having picture with a snowman sculpture in Harbin, China’s Northeastern Heilongjiang province. (AFP)
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China’s Frigid Northeast Thrives on ‘Little Potato’ Tourism Boom

This picture taken on December 17, 2024 shows people having picture with a snowman sculpture in Harbin, China’s Northeastern Heilongjiang province. (AFP)
This picture taken on December 17, 2024 shows people having picture with a snowman sculpture in Harbin, China’s Northeastern Heilongjiang province. (AFP)

Animal ears and pom-poms on fuzzy hats adorn tourists' heads on the streets of the frigid northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, which is enjoying a surge in visitors driven by social media.

Photos and videos taken around the city's landmarks flood platforms such as TikTok counterpart Douyin and Instagram-esque Xiaohongshu -- many featuring tourists from the warmer south.

They're affectionately known as "southern little potatoes", a reference to their alleged smaller stature and cutesy winter gear that contrast with the area's stereotypically coarse character.

A search for "southern little potatoes visit the north" racked up more than 428,000 notes on Xiaohongshu.

That's where Chen Xiting, who works in e-commerce in the southern province of Guangdong, said she was inspired to visit.

"It's the quickest way young people get trip recommendations," said Chen.

She said she had noticed a sizeable number of fellow southerners.

"I heard quite a bit of Cantonese, which we're very familiar with, today at tourist sites and on the street," said the 29-year-old, wearing a hat with dog ears and with only her face exposed to the air.

Liu Rong, a student from Sichuan, said the city's push for more southern tourists was clear from the surge in videos about Harbin he often watched with his wife.

"These years, especially this year, Harbin's cultural tourism has placed a lot of importance on paying attention to us southerners," Liu said.

- 'Little potatoes' go north -

Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang, one of three provinces that make up the "Dongbei" (northeast) region, where temperatures can reach -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit) during winter.

Bordered by Russia and North Korea, it is one of China's poorest provinces, outperforming only neighboring Jilin, Gansu, Hainan island and sparsely populated Tibet, Qinghai and Ningxia.

But the first five months of 2024 saw the operating income of Heilongjiang's cultural, sports and entertainment industries rise nearly 60 percent year-on-year, according to official data.

Tourists spent 154 billion yuan ($21 billion) in the first half of 2024, up 171 percent from the first half of 2023.

Popular novels and dramas set in the northeast have also helped spark a travel boom to the region.

"A lot of southerners, which we call 'little potatoes', came over here for travel and made our Harbin very trendy," Emily Liu, a local tour guide, told AFP.

The online fame has been good for the travel business, said 30-year-old Jiang Zhonglong, energetically gesticulating in front of his tripod just meters away from Liu.

He started working for a Harbin-based travel agency three years ago, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and said business was now much better.

"So many little friends, southern potatoes, tourists have all come here," he said.

One night this month, the city's commercial district of Central Street saw a steady stream of people walking on the cobblestone path under bright yellow lights.

Ling, a 38-year-old from the coastal eastern province of Zhejiang, was there with his wife to "daka", a phrase that means "punching in" but now describes visiting popular spots to share photos on social media.

"We often scroll through (video sharing platform) Douyin and such. We often see videos promoting Harbin," said Ling, who asked to be identified only by his surname.

- 'My hometown is popular' -

Ling told AFP he'd believed negative stereotypes about Dongbei in the past.

"But we came here and found that things are pretty decent," he said.

"I've been yearning for a different cultural experience compared to where I come from -- the weather and style are completely different."

Nearby, a steady stream of people ducked inside a shop selling goods from Russia -- just a stone's throw away.

Foot traffic to the shopping street has tripled since 2022, said store manager Zhangzhang, who has worked in the area for more than 10 years and asked to be identified by her nickname.

"My hometown has suddenly become popular," she said, adding she was "extremely proud".

She said the store last year started selling more hats and scarves for travelers who "didn't pack enough layers" -- including those printed with the region's classic red florals.

"I think that this can help lift the economy of our Dongbei."