Found at Balloon Fiesta

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - If you went to Balloon Fiesta at all this last week and felt like you missed something, check your pockets.

Or check the "Lost and Found" at Balloon Fiesta Park.

You might be surprised at what the employees find every year: sunglasses, jewelry, even children.

If you lost it at Balloon Park, there's a good chance someone found it.

And there's a good chance it's waiting for you.

With so many balloons, and so many people looking up, it's easy to lose something at Balloon Fiesta Park.

"See if anyone turned in Suzie's angel earrings, any angel earrings?" asked a couple of men about their friend's missing jewelry.

Hundreds of people lined up during Balloon Fiesta to get their stuff back.

"Was it black?" asked Pam Young, employee working at the "Lost and Found".

Behind the main stage is where the "Lost and Found" houses miscellaneous personal items like forgotten jewelry, clothes, and cameras.

"This week i had someone turn in two fifty dollar bills," said Young.

Young, who looks after stashed goods has learned that one person's found item could have sentimental value to another person.

"I love seeing the expression on their faces saying when they get that one thing that seems like it should be nothing," said Young.

"I just noticed that i still had the case in it but the phone was gone," remembered Cindy Temple.

Temple lost her phone at the beginning of the week while watching balloons take off. She came back a few days later because Young and others working in the "Lost and Found" office contacted her.

"I looked all over for it and couldn't find it and then they called on Monday and said that someone had turned it into 'Lost and Found'," said Temple.

The most valuable things that turn up in Young's office: children. About 350 lost kids in ten days.

"Some of them are pretty cute and we'd like to keep them but we get them all back to their parents," joked Young.

Young says all of the little ones are returned to their parents almost immediately.

Young says last year, a pouch full of jewelry was brought in. The estimated price was 100-thousand dollars. All returned.

The lost items are not lost for good once Balloon Fiesta is over.

The remaining valuables are eventually handed over to the city and stored in a safe.