{"id":45357,"date":"2021-08-06T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T21:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-rendezvous-balloon-rally-brightens-skies-in-montezuma-county\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:24:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:24:48","slug":"cortez-rendezvous-balloon-rally-brightens-skies-in-montezuma-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-rendezvous-balloon-rally-brightens-skies-in-montezuma-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Rendezvous balloon rally brightens skies in Montezuma County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Stars and Stripes balloon inflates on Friday morning during the Cortez Rendezvous Hot Air Balloon Rally. Seventeen balloons are participating in this year\u2019s rally. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

And they are off!<\/p>\n

The first hot air balloon to launch at this year\u2019s Cortez Rendezvous Hot Air Balloon Rally swept into the air just after 7 a.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

Even though unpredictable winds at Parque de Vida delayed takeoff and discouraged some participants from flying, amazement persisted in the eyes of onlookers, as the colorful vessels became engorged, many tumbling into the air with the glow of the rising sun.<\/p>\n

Hot and cold air mixed as flames ignited to bring the balloons to life.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event, which includes 17 balloons, follows a pandemic cancellation last year.<\/p>\n

The setback did not sway longtime flight enthusiast and Cortez resident Orly Lucero.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Mother Nature talks, there\u2019s no use in fighting it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Pilot
Pilot Sheri White inflates the Touchstone hot air balloon on Friday morning during the Cortez Rendezvous Hot Air Balloon Rally. Seventeen balloons are participating in this year\u2019s rally. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mandy Avis\u2019 daughters, Ann and Deseray, were bursting with anticipation Friday morning after missing out last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just excited to be a part of it again,\u201d Avis said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great community, and it\u2019s a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

After watching the balloons for years, she and her daughters became a part of the local Truly balloon crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many 12- and 13-year-olds can say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re part of a balloon crew?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The event draws people from throughout the West.<\/p>\n

Marilyn Wallace, a native of Santa Monica, California, thought the 12-hour drive was worth it to soar for the first time in Cortez.<\/p>\n

After 39 years of flying, she still gets a rush each time she becomes a speck in the sky.<\/p>\n

Her answer to what she was most excited about this weekend?<\/p>\n

\u201cFlying,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For her, it\u2019s as simple as that.<\/p>\n

The event promises the joy of becoming airborne. For some, it goes even deeper.<\/p>\n

One woman planned to spread her mother\u2019s ashes while flying just under 1,000 feet Saturday, said Rendezvous maestro Cookie See.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tight-knit and laid-back group. Many travel to the same events.<\/p>\n

The flyers stayed in the same hotel in Cortez as in previous years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to still party,\u201d said See. \u201cShe (the owner) doesn\u2019t mind as long as we don\u2019t take our clothes off.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can catch sight of the balloons this weekend in Cortez, with morning flights about 6:30 a.m. Saturday and a balloon glow at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"A
A balloon prepares for the first launch of the Cortez Rendezvous Hot Air Balloon on Rally Friday morning at Parque de Vida. (Kala Parkinson)<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

kicks off Friday morning amid fast-changing winds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86458,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45357\/revisions\/86458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45357"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}