This blog post explores what it means to be a balloonist. It also describes some of the social glue that binds Albuquerque balloonists together. Although this writing is not intended to act as a compressive interpretation of how balloonists socialize and feel about ballooning or each other, it does offer a glimpse into a one-of-a-kind community brought together by a shared love of hot air balloons. I’ve heard it said by many members of Albuquerque’s hot air ballooning community that one of the greatest powers ballooning holds over the masses is the sport’s ability to disarm people’s differences and bring everyone together. I’m inclined to say this is true. Camaraderie is the most repeated word that interviewees have used to describe what they enjoy most about being a balloonist.

One of my interview questions asks participants to define the title balloonist. “What is a balloonist?”, I ask. As with all of my interview questions, there’s no right or wrong answer. There are dictionary definitions we could turn to for understanding, offering that balloonists are those who ride in, operate, or travel in balloons. The value in having conversations with now over 50 individuals about ballooning is learning about the different ways we see ourselves fitting into the community at large. It turns out that the majority of the balloonists I’ve spoken with for this project would argue that dictionary interpretations of balloonist are lacking. I’ll share thoughts from several interviewees about what personal attributes might qualify one as a balloonist along with some insights on how balloonists socialize with each other. There’s no one-size-fits-all perspective; members of the community may identify as balloonists, ballooners, balloonatics, balloon enthusiasts, or balloon obsessed individuals. Choose your preferred title.

“Anybody can be a balloonist”, Troy Bradley shared with me as we sat across from one another in the shop at Rainbow Ryders’ Albuquerque office. “A lot of people identify as being a balloonist. There’s more to it than just being a pilot.” Troy holds 64 world records in ballooning and works as a commercial ride pilot for Rainbow Ryders, one of the largest balloon ride tour agencies in the world. He went on to share his appreciation for all facets of ballooning and the myriad of ways in which people involve themselves in the sport. “There are people that build the balloons, there’s people that crew on balloons, there’s people who repair balloons. I think that anybody that enjoys these colorful orbs flying through the air can be considered a balloonist if they identify with the joy that it brings the community.”

I was introduced to this community when I started working as a waiter at what used to be Garduño's on the Green, a Mexican/New Mexican themed restaurant and banquet hall located on the southern end of Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On several occasions, I had drawn the short straw among the wait staff, obligating me to work the evening shift waiting and bussing tables during the Albuquerque Aerostat Ascension Association’s (AAAA) monthly meetings. The AAAA is the largest balloon club in the world, established in 1971 and now hosting 539 active members. The club has long been a nucleus of socialization for local balloonists as it organizes flying and social events, safety seminars and ground schools, and keeps members informed about current events in ballooning. Truthfully, although I may have struggled keeping up with the drink orders, I loved waiting meetings for the local balloon club. It gave me an opportunity to make small talk with balloonists and learn about their sport. Despite being an outsider at the time, it was clear to me that I was overserving margaritas to a very close-knit community. During one of these meetings I thought I recognized two balloonists at one of the many tables in the banquet room. I introduced myself to them and to my delight, they claimed to recognize me too! They had crewed for the balloon I had taken my first flight in seven years prior in 2001. To make a long story short, they invited me out ballooning that weekend and I’ve been a part of the ballooning community ever since.

Camaraderie, referring to a spirit of friendship and community among people, has been a significant lure in ballooning for many of us. Most folks I’ve interviewed refer to the community as a family. Some add that it can be a complicated and dysfunctional one at times. One of my first tasks in The Albuquerque Balloonist is to explain to readers what this family looks like and how camaraderie brings balloonists together. I like to describe balloonists as being just as colorful and sometimes unusual as the balloons we fly or crew for. Some become balloonists because they lost a bet, others because a friend manipulated them into waking up at 5:00 AM promising them an adventure. What they actually got was hypothermia on a February morning while standing in a field kicking dirt into 20 knot winds. There are multigenerational balloonists who were indoctrinated from birth, and there are those who happened to be at the right place at the right time when they unexpectedly encountered a balloon and their curiosity got the best of them.

“Ballooning is not just about flying a balloon, it’s a social event. You have a group of people, and they’re interesting, funny, and sometimes quite strange. But it’s also the social part of ballooning that’s very beautiful.” — Diana Schroen, Crew Chief for Breezy Rider

I sat down for an interview with husband and wife balloonists Tom Fisher and Diana Schroen. “What does it mean to be a balloonist?”, I asked. “The people out there [around ballooning] are fun to be with and the background of people doesn’t matter.” Tom explained. “It doesn’t matter who they are or what they do. They’re all just out there having fun.” Both retired, Tom worked with the Department of Health and Human Services and Diana worked for the Department of Energy at Sandia National Labs. Tom flies Breezy Rider, a 2005 Cameron Z90. Concerning balloonists, Tom shared his characteristically humorous take on the topic. “They [balloonists] all have the same issues other balloonists have. It’s too windy today. That was a hard landing and everybody was watching! When I have perfect landings nobody is ever watching but when you screw one up everybody sees you, but we laugh about it later. ‘Why did you hit the ground so hard?’”

James Ahern, a retired corporate and recreational balloon pilot of over 48 years shared his understanding of balloonists with me. “Ballooning is very equalizing. You get to socialize with people who you may not normally socialize with because of their jobs, their social status. The country club group meets the day laborer. That’s probably what I like best about it because you never know who these people are going to be.” Jim showed me around his home office where we admired an assortment of mementos from his years as a career pilot. “I’ve had people crew for me who were millionaires, and they’re out packing up the balloon. I like the fact that everyone seems to pull together. It’s kind of a brotherhood in a way. We’re all out there getting our hands dirty packing up the same balloon. There are no subscriptive balloon crew. They are there because they want to be. I’m impressed by that.” James spent his career flying balloons like Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s, the PSA balloon for Pacific Southwest Airlines, and the Stagecoach and piggy banks, Little Buck and Miss Penny for Wells Fargo.

I explained to James that I had been crewing for a number of pilots on and off over a span of about 14 years and that ballooning is one of the few activities I’m involved in that inspires me to be social. “A balloonist is an attitude. They will go out and socialize with people they haven’t met before at a balloon event. As a crew person, you get together with someone else who you’ve never seen before who crews for another balloon. There’s a bond there.” James began his ballooning career working with Sid Cutter at World Balloon, Albuquerque’s first balloon ride tour agency and balloon repair station. Now retired from his role as a pilot, he remains involved in ballooning by crewing for another Albuquerque pilot and volunteering for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (AIBF).

The main subject of this project is the balloonist who has a strong tie or history with ballooning in Albuquerque and/or the surrounding areas. AIBF draws hundreds of balloonists from all over the world to Albuquerque each year, but for this project I’m focused on individuals who are invested in various aspects of ballooning in and around Albuquerque throughout the year. People don’t have to live in the city or even in New Mexico to be important contributors to the community. Many balloonists leave Albuquerque at one time or another, living chapters of their lives elsewhere while maintaining some connection to friends, family, work, or ballooning in the Land of Enchantment.

I met Mike Shrum at AIBF where he was piloting one of my favorite special shape balloons, La Ristra. Mike grew up in Hobbs, New Mexico but found his way into ballooning in 1996 while residing in Longview, Texas. He experienced his first balloon flight at the Great Texas Balloon Race that year and soon after found himself living in Albuquerque where he started crewing for a couple of local pilots. In February of 1998, he had earned his private pilot’s certificate, followed by his commercial rating in 2002. “I left New Mexico in 2016 and moved to several parts of the country for my work as a health and safety officer working on military instillations. I’ve lived in Georgia, Utah, Albuquerque, and presently South Dakota where I became a resident in 2021.”

No matter where Mike finds himself, he remains heavily involved in ballooning. Some of his contributions to ballooning include training new pilots and running the Balloon Federation of America’s (BFA) youth program for 10 years. From 1999 to 2008, he organized a balloon rally in Socorro, New Mexico. Mike has flown numerous special shapes including The Old Lady and the Shoe, the space shuttle Patriot, Darth Vader, and Beagle Maximus at AIBF and rallies throughout the United States. I asked Mike what he appreciates the most about the social aspects of ballooning.

“The people I have met in this sport number in the thousands. I’ve always prided myself on the fact I could start in California, travel across the USA to Maine, and never have to rent a hotel room because of all the friends I have made in this sport. It is a amazing little community!” - Mike Shrum, co-owner of Happily Ever After Balloon Co.

No conversation about camaraderie and socialization among balloonists would be complete without acknowledging that balloonists are known to enjoy the occasional party. To be clear, the vast majority of balloonists enjoy themselves responsibly at parties, and I’m not saying all balloonists party. In fact I’ve met many who don’t. But merrymaking and shenanigans have historically been tradition, if not ritual, in ballooning in Albuquerque and elsewhere. This is one of the ways that balloonists bond with one another, network, and preserve tradition in the community.

Storytelling among balloonists while tailgating has been a common practice since the early days of ballooning in Albuquerque in the 1970’s. There’s value in pilots and crew coming together and sharing stories about the morning’s flight, bringing new information to the community about balloon friendly landing sites and neighborhoods or locations to avoid.

The activity mixes generations of crew members and pilots who share stories about the way things are going and the way things used to be. I asked Niki Byrd-Dickey, a second generation balloonist, about the value of tailgating. “One of the things that we talk about as old timers that we don’t see now, and maybe it’s just that we’re not as active anymore like we used to be, but we learned our best flying lessons after flying at the tailgate, because that’s where you do all the hangar talk and the debriefing. ‘This is what happened to me today or did you hear what happened to so-and-so, can you believe this?’ We’d talk about what went wrong and what went right. Everyone would stand around for hours and talk about flying.” I can personally attest that post-flight tailgating is still a thing. I go flying with my friends, usually on the westside of town in Rio Rancho nearly every weekend. Afterwards, we sit around in lawn chairs telling stories and snacking while I try to avoid getting sunburnt. “That was really an important part about what made the ballooning community safer, richer, you know, the funny stories, the socialization, but also just the actual tales about ballooning. What to do, what not to do, and what stupid thing I did and don’t do that!”

“You learn from talking to everybody else.” - Niki Byrd-Dickey, 2nd generation pilot

Scores of ballooning stories exist only in the memories of those who experienced them. Sharing these stories can be an exercise in bonding and camaraderie as well as community preservation. While there have been some fantastic personal stories published about ballooning experiences, they are typically shared in isolation in publications like the local balloon club’s monthly newsletter, the Cloud Bouncer, or at balloonist seminars and in other community specific publications. Many of the community’s stories have never been written down or documented for broader consumption by the general public, until now. The Albuquerque Balloonist project is providing the space for balloonists from all backgrounds to share their most humorous, adventurous, tragic, and beloved stories and memories about ballooning. I’m excited to share that since beginning this project, I’ve collected over 400 recorded hours of balloonist storytelling from the over 100 balloonists! I’ll be publishing separate blog posts about more nuanced topics involving ballooning soon, so keep checking back for new content.

I’m committed to writing The Albuquerque Balloonist sans rose-colored glasses, so without straying from the theme of this post, it’s worth recognizing that generating camaraderie isn’t always effortless, and that social experiences among balloonists aren’t always positive. Drama, politics, rivalries, and falling outs between members of the community occur with some regularity, like they do in other social groups. Balloonists cover the spectrum of character qualities and reputations, good, bad, and ugly. The Albuquerque ballooning community is a scene where everybody knows everybody. To avoid any backlash on interviewees who share less flattering stories about ballooning, I’ll be keeping their identities anonymous while sharing their perspectives. "In recent years its [ballooning] become very political. There’s always been cliques and there’s always been politics, but I think we as a community have kinda let that take over the drive of ballooning. I think it’s unfortunate. Everybody wants to be the bigshot.” Some pilots I’ve interviewed associated these negative dynamics more closely with organized flying events rather than independently planned flights, but there is overlap. “That’s a big part of what I’d consider the degradation of the community. The politics and money and power trips that people get on. From what I’ve seen, it’s driven off some of the people who really brought out the heart and soul of the ballooning community. The backstabbing and everything else. If you’re a good hearted person out flying and just trying to have a good time, you can only put up with that for so long.”

In addition to AIBF, organized ballooning events, often referred to as rallies, take place each month in Albuquerque and in towns around New Mexico. These events require pilots to register to participate, often limiting the number of pilots who are accepted due to limited resources and spatial constraints. One balloonist expressed that gatekeeping and favoritism has prevented them from participating in events. “If you’re not kissing the right ass, ballooning won’t be fun for you anymore. You have to play the game. You piss of the wrong person around here and you’re black listed.”

At times, the social harmony of crew dynamics can be tenuous. During my interviews, I ask interviewees if there’s anything they dislike about ballooning. Plenty of folks draw a blank and have nothing negative to say about it, though a few have shared candid answers with me. “Sometimes, you’ve gotta vote someone off the island. Some people suck and we don’t need them around the balloon. They’re not good ambassadors for ballooning. There are some curmudgeons and people on power trips out there. There’s always going to be stressful moments ballooning throws at you that can lead to personalities clashing or lines getting crossed, and tempers can escalate. Sometimes the drama isn’t even ballooning related!”

Some balloonists leave town, relocating elsewhere where they might continue ballooning in another community. Upon retiring from ballooning, leaving the sport due to hardship or personal reasons, or turning life’s pages to begin new journeys, it might be necessary to leave ballooning behind altogether. Whether one is still active in ballooning or has left it behind, there is value in the knowledge and stories of each balloonist, especially those who have experienced the ways that the sport and its participating communities have changed over the years.

So what is a balloonist really? There’s no univocal description, but for the sake of being thorough I’ll include one more. “A balloonist can be anybody that loves it. Not everybody is made to be a pilot.” Jewel Cutter explained to me with a warm tone in her voice. Her late husband Sid Cutter put Albuquerque on the map as the hot air balloon capital of the world. In 1972, he organized what would become the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Jewel remains closely involved with the event, working tirelessly with volunteers while fueling her own lifelong passion for ballooning and honoring her husband’s memory. “We have over 5,000 volunteers on balloon fiesta field [during the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta]. They’re balloonists. If you have a love for ballooning and you want to be a part of it in any way, you’re a balloonist.”

If the balloonists I’ve included in this blog post haven’t already made this clear, the ballooning community in Albuquerque makes for an ideal case study in camaraderie and so many other things. Commercial pilots who fly daily, taking tourists on paid rides have their own methods of socializing and very different experiences than those pilots who fly casually for fun with their friends on the weekends. Pilots who enjoy the challenges of competitive flying, executing complex in flight tasks while jockeying for prestige on a leader board also have unique ways of building camaraderie with other competitors. There are subcommunities of balloonists like the Vikings and the defunct Black Sheep Squadron who pride themselves on their own unique traditions and behaviors, and there are remote control balloonists who organize their own gatherings and share information with one another on how to construct miniature hot air balloons. Regardless of what motivates a balloonist or what clique they might associate with, to be closely involved in ballooning, you need friends and in many cases you need more than that, you need a community. Many balloonists who’ve attended AIBF will attest that the balloonist gathering is a family reunion first and a flying event second. For some, this is why they remain in the sport.

I’ll conclude this post by revisiting my conversation with Nicky when she and I discussed her family’s ties to ballooning in Albuquerque. As we spoke I couldn’t help but notice she was wearing a t-shirt with a graphic depicting several of her family’s balloons in flight. “Even though we’re not as active as we used to be, it’s still who we are,” she explained, referring to the involvement of her husband Frank and their two daughters Jamie, a third generation pilot, and Amelia who’s active as a third generation crew member. “I know people that have removed themselves from ballooning. They’re like ya, we’ve been there and we’ve moved on. I’m like, how can you remove yourself from that culture? I can’t. I can’t remove myself from it. I don’t think we [our family] know how to program ourselves any other way.” Nicky and I continued swapping ballooning stories while sitting under the awning on her back porch at her home in Albuquerque’s North Valley. After 96 days without rain, Albuquerque was finally getting some much needed precipitation. A break in the passing storm clouds allowed the sun to shine through the dampened canopy of a nearby elm tree and onto a trellis covered in honey suckle and clematis vines. Niki and I might be two balloonists prone to romanticizing ballooning, but she had me convinced that regardless of the community’s imperfections, it’s the camaraderie in our community that keeps the sport alive in Albuquerque.

“Once a balloonist, always a balloonist.” - Niki Byrd-Dickey

Check back for future updates on The Albuquerque Balloonist. If you’re a balloonist of any age, pilot or crew, with history in Albuquerque and you’d like to share your story for this project, please contact me by email at contact@brycerisleyphotography.com

Thank you for your interest in The Albuquerque Balloonist and Bryce Risley Photography.

DONATE TO THIS PROJECT

I’m working on this project as an independent artist and writer and I need your help to get it across the finish line. In addition to investing thousands of hours of my time into this project, I spend hundreds of dollars a month on fuel as I travel between meetings and ballooning events in and outside of Albuquerque. This work puts wear on my electronic equipment and my vehicle which I need to maintain to continue this project. Please consider making a donation so that I can invest the best of my resources into this work. Donors will be mentioned in a dedicated section in the book and on the website!

The Albuquerque Balloonist is a multi-year ethnographic documentary and art project spearheaded by artist, social scientist, and balloonist Bryce Risley. The outputs of this project will include a collectable, hard cover book publication, a series of museum quality collectable fine art photos, a website dedicated to archiving the culture of ballooning in Albuquerque and the stories of balloonists, and more!

Part 2 “The Albuquerque Balloonist” — Camaraderie

Part 3 “The Albuquerque Balloonist” - A Year Of Progress

Part 1 “The Albuquerque Balloonist” — expanding on the project