Gallery

Connor Henry/The JournalBalloons pepper the Cortez sky on Saturday morning as part of the 16th annual Rendezvous Hot Air Balloon Festival.

Connor Henry/The JournalBalloons start to take off from the park grounds on Saturday morning.

Connor Henry/The JournalA stray balloon floating over Cortez.

Connor Henry/The JournalA hot air balloon nears capacity at the Cortez Rendezvous Hot Air Balloon Rally in Parque de Vida on Saturday.

Connor Henry/The Journal
Pilot Stacy Eldridge’s balloon, Redneck Cowboy, gets deflated after its flight Saturday morning. The Redneck Cowboy holds 77,000 cubic feet of air and can support the pilot and one passenger in its basket.

The Cortez Rendezvous Hot Air Balloon Rally featured 18 hot air balloons that lifted off from Parque de Vida park Friday morning.

After the balloon is filled with ambient colder air from a fan, the burner is triggered, which heats the balloon and stands it upright.

Sonciné Brown and Barb Headley volunteer for a hot air balloon crew at Parque de Vida on Friday morning.

Adrian Bueno uses a squeezer to “milk” the air out of the Neida Lift hot air balloon during the take-down process.