Come watch some balloons, play golf at this year's Pinto Bean Fiesta

Route 66 travelers and Estancia Valley residents can catch balloons and play nine holes of golf on a dusty pasture at this year’s 37th annual Pinto Bean Fiesta in Moriarty.

The fiesta, which began in 1987, starts on Friday, Sept. 26, with a Hot Air Balloon Glow at Sierra Blanca Brewery from 6-8 p.m.

Gary King, past president of the Moriarty/Edgewood Rotary Club, said eight balloons are expected to light up the evening sky.

“People will be able to get locally crafted beer and just enjoy the balloons,” he said.

On Saturday, Sept. 27, people can watch a balloon ascension from 6-8 a.m. at the Civic Center parking lot, followed by a parade at 10 a.m. along Route 66 through downtown Moriarty. An airplane flyover is planned for the parade’s finale at City Park, 217 Broadway St. South.

“The parade is a good way to kick off the event,” Dean Schwebach, whose family once grew pinto beans in the Estancia Valley, said. “You get lots of different entries into the parade. Some of them are comical.”

One year, Schwebach said, he remembered seeing a “Queen Bean” contestant riding in a float with a toilet bowl strapped around her midsection that was referred to as a bean pot.

There won’t be a Queen Bean contest or a bean cook-off this year, but people will be able to participate in cornhole and golf tournaments. Eina Gomez, city of Moriarty office clerk, said the cook-off will return next year.

The golf tournament, however, will not be played on a traditional golf course. Instead, participants will use a miniature soccer ball and a club with a wooden shoe on it on a nine-hole course set up in open pasture land near the Moriarty Civic Center.

The rules are similar to golf, King said, but the players will need to “be prepared to play in an unimproved pasture setting that may be dusty and include sticky plants and critters endemic to the high desert.”

“No special skill is necessary to play and all ages can play,” he said.

Suggested donations per round played are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 15. Proceeds from the event will go toward the Rotary Club’s nutritional backpack program at Moriarty Elementary School and the Rotary scholarship fund, King said.

After enjoying some cornhole and golf, guests can grab a bite from food trucks and sip a cold one from a beer garden. They can also attend the Veterans of Foreign Wars car show from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with all proceeds supporting veteran services. At the end of the day, people can listen to music from 7000 Feat.