Boo-lloon MANIA
Balloon museum event features pet parade, Halloween-themed activities
Have a spooktacular time during Boo-lloon Mania at the AndersonAbruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum.
The event, which begins at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, will feature familyfriendly fun, including a “doggie” pet parade, pumpkin carving and decorating, as well as a balloon glow if the weather permits.
“Folks will have an opportunity to create their own Balloonaria, and basically it’s a luminaria bag, but they can decorate it with a Halloween theme,” said Linda Hubley, operations and events supervisor at the museum. “We also have cutout bags with a Halloween stencil, and then they light up. We will have a pumpkin patch where they can come and select a pumpkin of their choice, and then they have the opportunity to either carve it or decorate it.”
Guests can immerse themselves in a Halloween-themed virtual reality station.
“It’s a 3D experience where they’re watching balloons launch and in the background are pumpkins floating around,” Hubley said. “It’s a virtual reality ballooning experience with a Halloween theme.”
Attendees can participate in a scavenger hunt throughout the balloon museum. Whoever visits all the stations will receive a prize. There will be several community partners at the event who will have various arts and craft stations, which also will be trick-or-treat stations.
“One of the requirements that we have is that they have an engaging, interactive activity at their booth,” Hubley said. “It’s not just passing out information. We want people to go up to the booth and actually participate in an activity, whether that be an arts and crafts activity or spinning a wheel to get a prize so it’s not just handing out information.”
Spookulele will perform from 5 to 6:15 p.m. The family-friendly band plays original music and changes the lyrics of popular songs to make them Halloween-themed.
Guests are encouraged to dress up and are asked to wear family-friendly costumes that will not scare young children in attendance. There will be costume contests for human guests and four-legged friends. The costume contest categories are best dog costume, best group/ family costume, most original costume and best balloon-themed costume.
In conjunction with Boo-lloon Mania, the venue will host its final balloon museum pod race. Spectators will have an opportunity to watch pilots fly FPV drones through a course. “They will set up gates that are lit up, because it will get dark eventually, and so the gates will be lit up and they’ll be able to watch the drones fly through the gates and race for the fastest time,” Hubley said. “And the pilots will also engage with the participants and answer any questions they might have about FPV racing.”