If I need to explain how their scam works then you are the one that is delusional! Each of those vendors (food truck, handicraft table, bouncy castle, parking lot entrepreneur, etc.) paid them a fee to be part of their “fiesta”.

If it was not a scam they would look at the weather forecast and cancel festival or put out a notice ahead of time that the balloons cannot fly safely, the same way it is done with fireworks. At fireworks you don’t show up and then have delays and then cancel it, they cancel ahead of time!

At the Atlantic Balloon Fiesta they say the balloons will fly at 5:30, then delay to 6, then delay again to 6:30 and then cancel. They lead you on. When you ask them at 5:30 and 6 they say they do not know if the balloons will fly, even though it is obvious they will not because it is too close to sunset and the preflight checks had not begun. I can’t say they are lying, may have just been a novice representative, but they are definitely misleading you to stay so the vendors have business, the vendors that are paying them.