Carlsbad Delegation Soars at Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

By R. Gabriel Villalobos

For the fourth consecutive year, a delegation from the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce traded the familiar Permian Basin landscape for the crisp autumn skies of Albuquerque, using the world’s largest hot air balloon festival as a launchpad to promote southeastern New Mexico tourism.

“We’ve actually been participating in the balloon fiesta for a while,” said Chad Ingram, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber.

“JW Sutphin, who is our retirement director, came to us and said, ‘Instead of going to a lot of these tourism seminars in faraway places, why not just go to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta?’ You’ve got hundreds of thousands of people there from all over the world. Then we just talk them into coming down here after the balloon fiesta.”

That pitch has proven to be a tremendous success, Ingram said.

Jill Barkley, the Chamber’s director of tourism, recalled her first Balloon Fiesta experience four years ago. She was struck by how many attendees had never heard of Carlsbad or knew of it only vaguely.

“We had tons of people at our booth, but they were genuinely curious about Carlsbad,” Barkley said. “Some had never heard of it, which was a shocker. Some had heard but never been there. This was a tremendous experience for us to get to talk about Carlsbad and what all there is to do here.”

The delegation’s efforts have yielded tangible results. Barkley said some tour buses that once routed visitors from Balloon Fiesta to White Sands have changed their itineraries after learning about the Carlsbad Caverns and how they were the state’s first national park.

“We had some tour buses actually change their plans and come to Carlsbad,” she said. “We felt like that was a huge success.”

This year’s delegation included Ingram; Barkley; Sutphin, a balloon pilot and director of retirement; and Andrea Falcetto, the new director of Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park. They were joined by Jen Watson, chair of the Chamber’s tourism committee.

The Chamber operates three hot air balloons: Hanging Upside Down, Cora, and Destination Carlsbad. This year, the Cora balloon featured the New Mexico State Parks logo, a partnership Ingram helped broker.

“We were able to create this partnership to where we flew that balloon at AIBF, and Andrea was able to come up and really see it,” Ingram said.

Sutphin, who has deep roots in Albuquerque and was heavily involved with the Balloon Fiesta during Kodak’s sponsorship era, flew the smaller “globito” balloons. He said their presence has grown significantly.

“We started three years ago with the globitos when there were about 30 balloons,” Sutphin said. “There were 103 globitos there this year, so their exposure is like three times as much as it’s been in the past.”

The globitos flew Sunday morning, Monday night at Los Ranchos, Wednesday and Friday mornings, and Saturday night during the music festival, where crowds can reach 80,000 people.

For Sutphin, the strategic value of attending goes beyond general tourism. As director of retirement, he targets the community of 6,000 people who travel the state following balloons.

“We want them to come down south,” he said. “Instead of going to Santa Fe and Taos, we definitely want them to head down south to see the Caverns.”

Falcetto, who moved to Carlsbad in June, attended her first Balloon Fiesta and helped staff the Chamber’s booth. She also noticed the impact when she returned home.

“We already had visitors that were at Balloon Fiesta this past week and this week,” she said. “People have been coming in with their hot air balloon earrings, their T-shirts.”

Falcetto is now preparing for upcoming events at Living Desert, including Boo in the Zoo on October 24, the return of full moon walks, and star parties in partnership with Inspired by Science. The first star party this year drew nearly 200 people.

Looking ahead, Ingram said the Chamber remains committed to the Balloon Fiesta, both as a vendor and as a chase crew sponsor. The exposure, he said, is unmatched.

“The partnerships that we have built to make this a huge success for Carlsbad are just a testament to this team and the commitment of the Carlsbad Chamber to make sure we are highlighting Carlsbad and all the things to do here at every single event that we attend,” Ingram said.