Aversion to Ovals

The sun had some strong competition Thursday when it rose over Albuquerque. Carmen Miranda’s head bobbed up. Tony the Tiger floated by. The first rays glinted off the belly of Smaug, a pink dragon.

“Did you see that? Did you see that dragon? He’s beautiful,” said Angela Blair, 8, of Rio Rancho.

Her friend Melissa Raymond, 8, of Rio Rancho, pulled her arm.

“Come on, let’s go. They’re pumping up the polar bear,” she said.

Thursday was a historic day in the world of hot air balloons as a record number of special shapes--102--rose in a mass ascension during the 25th anniversary of the Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the biggest hot air balloon event in the world.

They rose with the sun, at about 7:30 a.m., and soared over Albuquerque, coming down about an hour later in parks, empty lots, drainage ditches and anywhere else they could safely stop.

“It was awesome. They go where the wind takes them,” said fiesta spokeswoman Jodi Baugh.

For spectators, known locally as “balloonatics,” the dawn event is pure entertainment--a striking display of color, the roar of propane burners, the flutter of fabrics and the shouts as teams lift off.

But for balloon owners, the real reason to launch a special shape is to make money.

“You can’t buy page-one advertising, but our Famous Footwear giant shoe balloon is on the front page of a local paper today,” said Judy Roznowski, owner of Sky Aces based in Madison, Wis., who was inflating a 135-foot-tall, 700-pound American Eagle sponsored for the day by Willis & Geiger outfitters of Reedsburg, Wis.

Some balloons, like the Energizer Bunny, are blatant full-time advertisements. The balloons also come shaped like Mountain Dew, Seven-Up, Pepsi and Diet Pepsi soda cans, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, a Norwest Bank pink piggy bank, a United Van Lines Truck and lots of booze bottles.

Other special shapes, such as a 100-foot-tall rendition of Uncle Sam’s head owned by the Soukup & Thomas International Balloon & Airship Museum in Mitchell, S.D., can be rented out--or sponsored--for between $250 and $1,000 during a show. For that price, businesses get to have their banner attached to the balloon and flown around town for a few hours.

The sponsors are all hoping their balloons, each worth about $100,000, will be captured by one of the almost 50 television stations or 300 newspapers from around the world.

“They get a lot of exposure for their money,” said Lorie Miller, a volunteer with the Soukup & Thomas Museum.

Mark Sullivan of Albuquerque, pilot of U.S. Marine bulldog mascot “Chesty,” said the special shapes are much harder to fly.

“There’s a lot of fabric, they’re real heavy, and they’re not aerodynamic,” he said.

But when he took off, “Chesty,” with Sullivan dangling below in the basket, soared straight and true into the blue sky.

Making his debut Thursday was Mr. Biddle, a sophisticated 105-foot tall English bear with a pince-nez and a red vest. He’s the main character of a new children’s book, “Mr. Biddle and the Squirrel’s Tale,” written by Anne Mason of Detroit.

The Biddle Balloon was made by Richard Rudlaff and Donna Fox, avid balloonists who met Mason on an airplane, chatted about the book and decided to make Mr. Biddle famous.

Jimmie Taylor, 68, of Oak Ridge, Tenn., said the morning show put her past balloon sightings to shame.

“Where I’m from, you see little oval balloons all the time. That’s peanuts compared to this,” she said, as another shape caught her eye. “Hey! Is that a peanut?”

The Takahashi family from Japan brought two balloons designed to look like their pets--Beloved Arrow, a Labrador retriever with a couple of puppies, and Aska’s Ballon, a dog’s head. They said they hope the balloons help promote animal welfare.

Elisa Mendoza, 4, of Albuquerque was bundled in a blanket, her eyes wide, as the first balloons and the first rays of sun began to rise.

She didn’t blink. She didn’t speak either, but her mouth opened and closed a few times as Sonic The Hedgehog, a video game character, rose slowly from the ground into a huge, hulking blue creature.

“It’s a cat,” she said, and then she added in a whisper: “I think it’s going to fly.”