Great American Duck Race Balloon Rally

The Great American Duck Race Balloon Rally is held in Deming, NM around the third or fourth weekend. It is also my very first balloon rally as a registered pilot. I have been coming here since 1998 and my sponsor was either Desert Winds Magazine or the Deming Headlight. I used to pickup crew on the field as the newspaper reporter seems to run on New Mexico time which is about 20 minutes late. In 2004 I ran into some really nice people and we agreed to have fun each year. We usually have a competition on the first flight.

The city is bustling with a parade and many booths in the city center for the yearly duck races. This is the city with side by side Big K Mart and Super Wal-Mart. We start off on Friday night with a registration dinner and then have a Saturday morning launch, Saturday night glow, and then a Sunday morning launch.