Gallup Sun

What it takes to put on an amazing balloon rally

The Gallup skies will soon be full of bright colors as the Red Rock Balloon Rally welcomes about 140 pilots to town on the weekend of Dec. 2.

In an interview with the Sun, Bill Lee, the president of the Red Rock Balloon Association, said the event usually brings in about $2.5 million to the City of Gallup’s economy as people from around the world visit hotels and eat at restaurants. He said last year saw a record attendance number after they took a year off for COVID; roughly 30,000 people attended the mass ascensions.

To prepare for such a big event, the committee in charge of coordinating it began meeting in June to prepare...

Going up in a hot air balloon just once is an adventure for most of us. For Peter Procopio, it was just the start.

The first time he saw a hot air balloon drifting over Gallup – not long after he’d moved from New York in 1977 – he was transfixed. He followed it and met the pilot, Alan Wilson. Soon after, he ended up trading a construction job to converting Wilson’s carport into a garage for ballooning lessons from Wilson and his wife, Kaye.

The rest is history, and that 41-year history became the Red Rock Balloon Rally in 1981. The first event had just 25 balloons. Eventually that number swelled to 200, and now rallies draw about 150 participants each year. The Red Rock...

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Running Time: 102 minutes

This animated family feature from Walt Disney Pictures will be released theatrically in the US on Nov. 23.

Due to the pandemic, Disney has employed an unusual release strategy for its animated features over the past couple of years. Its previous title, Encanto received a brief theatrical run before premiering on the Disney+ streaming site only a few weeks later. Strange World appears to have finally set things back to normal, heading exclusively to cinemas. But is it really worth seeing on the big screen?

As it turns out, the updated distribution blueprint does highlight the movie’s strongest element.

The story is set in...

Welcome to another look at highlights arriving on Blu-ray and DVD. With Thanksgiving arriving, this edition isn’t quite overly packed, but it does include a couple of high-profile titles and some interesting independent fare. So, if you can’t make it out to the movies this week or need to stay indoors, be sure to give one of these titles a try!



BIG NEW RELEASES!



BROS: A 40-year-old gay man who has never been in love meets a man and begins to want to take his romantic life seriously. However, the protagonist is insecure and doesn’t want to get his hopes up, leading to plenty of humor and complications as they attempt to begin a relationship. Promo materials describe...