More than black & white: For 30 years, Elisa Bustamante has brought colorful flavor to being a Zebra

Elisa Bustamante was born to be a Zebra.

She even has a room full of black-and-white attire, which is the standard uniform for launch directors at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Launch directors are known as Zebras because of their attire that helps them stand out in the sea of spectators that attend the Fiesta each year. The Zebras have been part of the event since the early 1970s.

“A lot of it is gifts that I get from people because they know you as a Zebra,” Bustamante said of her Zebra gear. “And then, of course, you see Zebra stuff and you kind of have to have that. Now that whole thing has taken a life of its own. I think it’s really great that we’re allowed to do that.”

Bustamante has been a Zebra for 30 years. Her interest to become a launch director was piqued after she visited the Balloon Fiesta in 1978.

“I went out and I got my first ride, and I was hooked,” Bustamante said. “I thought, well, I need to try to find a way to do this. So, I got involved with some local balloonists and chase crew. So, I did that, and then fast-forward, I actually did volunteer work out in the field before I became a Zebra. I was out there digging holes for fence posts and such. You won’t find me doing that now.”

When Balloon Fiesta organizers were looking for launch directors and asked Bustamante if she would be interested. Her answer was “yes” and the rest is history.

“When my daughter graduated from high school, she moved to Seattle and I was kind of lost,” Bustamante said. “And you know, I kind of always said I wanted to learn how to fly, so I became a (hot air balloon) pilot.”

Bustamante received her hot air balloon pilot’s license in 1996. Becoming a pilot was not the only perk of attending ground school. The school is where she met her husband, Ken Paulk, who shared her passion for ballooning.

“Between the two of us, we owned four balloons together,” she said. “And then he also became a launch director down the road. But that’s kind of what drew me, I just love ballooning. I just love the magic of ballooning. I love the sound, the smell, the excitement, the energy … Being a launch instructor was a great way to be a volunteer, and before that I had volunteered to help with the international pilots.”

More than black & white: For 30 years, Elisa Bustamante has brought colorful flavor to being a Zebra

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Bustamante no longer flies and focuses her attention on being a Zebra.

“I lost my husband five years ago and I rode my last balloon before he passed away,” she said. “It’s very physical, but there was a point in time that we would launch direct and then we would go fly, which is absolutely exhausting. I’m not quite sure how we ever did that. Now it’s just more concentration on the launch director part of it.”

Bustamante now serves as a mentor and passes on her wealth of knowledge to launch director trainees.

“My whole goal with that is to teach them as much as I possibly can in one day, in the time that I have them,” she said. “Each launch director has a different way of doing things. I’ve trained many of them. I’ve been so surprised that so many times, I hear somebody say ‘Yeah, you were my trainer.’ I do enjoy that.”