On the evening of our third day at the Balloon Fiesta, we attended a “Lift Your Sprits” event behind the Balloon Museum, where they had booths with alcohol vendors and crafts, food carts, and live music.

The Balloon Museum entrance:

A quick look at some museum exhibits in passing:

Outside, the music pavilion:

Craft vendors:

Cocktail vendors:

We shared a fruit loop cocktail:

A food cart:

Where we got some chicken and waffles:

Another food cart:

Where we got some nachos:

Alcohol vendors:

Vodka juice box:

Artwork:

Sunset:

Back through the balloon museum:

After returning to our coach to get more stuff, we headed to the launch field for the evening glow. The VIP entrance security line was longer than usual, since the evening activities were already underway:

(The security was pointless theater: they had metal detectors, requiring emptying pockets, but didn’t inspect bag contents.)

The evening balloon glow is where they inflate a bunch of balloons, tethered to the ground, and light them up with the burner flames:

It’s impressive to get up close to the balloons:

Suddenly, the “zebras” (launch directors) started blowing their whistles, telling the balloonists to deflate, as rain was on its way. Minutes later, it started to pour, and lightning flashed, and the announcers told people to seek shelter.

While people were rushing to exit or shelter, they set off the fireworks, that had been scheduled for later in the evening, figuring that if they didn’t launch them, they’d be too soaked later:

The balloonists had to deflate and wrap up their balloons in the downpour:

We heard later that they took their balloons to local gyms and indoor arenas to re-inflate and dry them out; a great level of support from the local community.

As we exited, the fireworks continued:

They sent emergency evacuation and shelter-in-place alerts to everyone’s phones:

And notifications in the Balloon Fiesta app:

We were totally soaked when we got back to our coach, even though we were more fortunate than most, since we had the forethought to have jackets. Certainly an interesting experience, but not exactly ideal.