Ruth Wilson has been at every Canberra balloon spectacular since the annual festival started in 1987 and said she had never seen a crowd so large on the first day of the event on Saturday.
"This is probably the biggest crowd I've seen at a Canberra festival," Ms Wilson said.
"I suspect it's because we've all been grounded with COVID and everyone is glad to get out in the fresh air and do something."
Thousands flocked to Patrick White Lawns to view the balloons take-off on their voyage over Lake Burley Griffin.
Thankfully, the crowd was not disappointed as the crisp, still autumn morning in Canberra proved to be ideal flying weather. The balmy morning was also perfect for onlookers.
While she is normally a pilot at the festival, this year Ms Wilson is an official steward and is part of the daily decision-making to determine if the balloons can fly.
Ms Wilson is a pioneer for hot air and gas ballooning. She was the first female pilot to set up a commercial ballooning company in Australia in 1976 and was the first national ballooning champion in 1979.
Ballooning has taken her around the world but when it comes to Australia, there is one place that stands out.
"Canberra is the most beautiful spot to fly in Australia because we've got the lake, we've got the Brindabellas, the city and then Parliament House. We love coming here," Ms Wilson said.
The main attraction on Saturday morning was the 33-metre-tall Tico - a sloth-shaped balloon. It was the first time the New York-based balloon had flown in Australia and it proved to be a hit with the crowd.
Tico's pilot Craig Farrell was thrilled to be flying the sloth on Saturday morning. He planned to pilot the balloon across the lake to the Arboretum, flying at about 2500 feet.
The balloon, created by brothers Todd and Scott Monahan, holds 120,000 cubic feet of hot air, which is the equivalent of 120,000 basketballs.
Mr Farrell has been ballooning for about 38 years. He has piloted many of the feature balloons at Canberra festivals over recent years, including Skywhale and Allycorn (a unicorn balloon).
"Most balloons that I fly are the classic round shape but I have been doing a lot of what we call special shapes - anything that is not the normal teardrop shape," he said.
"I've been doing a lot of that over the last 10 years."
The Canberra-based balloonist travels the world ballooning and returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia last week. He has a full schedule over the coming months but Mr Farrell is just happy he can travel again.
But while he has travelled the world he still rates Canberra as one of the best places for flying.
"I rate Canberra in the top three, if not number one," he said.
"It's a hard act when you are comparing so many different places like India, Mexico, China, Saudi Arabia.
"It's very unusual to be able to fly over a capital city anywhere in the world, let alone have an event like this with so many private and commercial pilots."
