Ballooning's Voice Returns to The Magnificent ABQ Balloon Fiesta (And Boy... Do We Wish We Were There!)

The 42nd Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta launches its 9-day run on Saturday, October 5, 2013 with the theme “Enchanted Sunrise” and ANN’s Glen Moyer will be there at the center of all the action.

Each morning from Saturday, October 5th through Sunday, October 13th, as many as 750 colorful floating orbs will dot the sky above Albuquerque, New Mexico thrilling hundreds of thousands of spectators over the nine-day event.

For the 23rd year, ANN’s Glen Moyer will team with the event’s co-founder and former State Senator, Tom Rutherford, as public address MCs to describe all of the action during the larger-than-life lighter-than-air fantasy. From the enchanting Dawn Patrols to the awe inspiring mass ascensions to the dramatic competition flights, and the fairy tale imagery of the Special Shapes Rodeo, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is an aviation event like no other in the world. And the fun doesn’t stop when the sun goes down… five times during the week balloons gather at Balloon Fiesta Park and with Moyer and Rutherford calling the shots, the pilots ignite their propane burners and light the night sky with every color of the rainbow in the thrilling ‘balloon glows.’

Plus there is a nod to old world ballooning as the America’s Challenge – adapted from the prestigious Gordon Bennett balloon race – brings to Albuquerque the only long distance gas balloon race flown in the USA. This year, six teams (five from the US and one from Great Britain) will compete in an event that has seen world records set with teams flying through two and three nights into the far reaches of Canada or across the Gulf of Mexico to land near the Atlantic Ocean.

Recognized as the premiere balloon event announcer in the US, Moyer has been ‘on the mic’ at events from coast to coast and border to border for almost 30 years. He is a commercially rated hot air balloon pilot having earned his ‘wings’ in 1990. Moyer is a former Director of the Balloon Federation of America and since 2001 has served as the Editor of the BFA’s official publication “BALLOONING Journal.”

Glen is also producer and host of ANN’s Aero-News Briefings, our daily aviation news podcasts heard Monday through Friday on our website at www.aero-news.net  or on iTunes.

FMI: Log on to www.balloonfiesta.com and you can follow Glen on twitter - @GlenMoyer1