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Not all hot air: The world's biggest balloon festival just took off
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta kicked off Sunday as hundreds of hot air balloons took to the skies of New Mexico. The annual festival, currently in its 45th year, was originally started to celebrate the 50th birthday of a local radio station back in 1972.
Since then, it has ballooned into the world\'s largest gathering of hot air balloons, peaking at over 1,000 balloons back in 2001.
The number of balloons allowed has since been restricted to 600 due to a paucity of landing sites and safety concerns. However, this has not made the festival any less amazing.
The festival is on for nine days and sees hundreds of balloons take to the skies at the same time, in just two waves. The sky goes from empty to filled with a number of balloons one would only expect to see in a Disney movie.
The balloons aren\'t all your regular hot air balloon either. While there are 500 regular balloons at this year\'s festivities, 108 balloons are in special shapes like the eye-catching pink elephant balloon.
At night, the balloons, while still grounded, are lit up by their propane burners creating an astonishing visual treat.
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