Organizers to limit Zozobra ticket sales
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s a move to prevent any doom when we burn Old Man Gloom from now on. For the first time, organizers of our most New Mexican tradition are capping Zozobra ticket sales.
Tickets for the event on Friday, Aug. 29, will go on sale Monday. Event Chairman Ray Sandoval said more than 70,000 people were at the 100th burning in 2024. This year, organizers will only sell 50,000 tickets.
“I heard from folks that people left to go get food or use the restroom, and they got trapped and couldn’t get back to their families, and that is not an experience we want,” Sandoval said.
A thread on social media posted after the event highlighted safety concerns with the sheer amount of people. A user wrote, “This was perhaps the most unsafe I ever felt in a large crowd. The risk of crowd crush and stampeded was extremely high last night.”
Others posted about how they could barely see because they were so far back. One user commented that they couldn’t go to concessions because they “couldn’t actually move anywhere.” Sandoval said some people were stuck in the security line for 90 minutes.
“They got held up in some of the security checkpoints,” he said. “We’ve looked at how the logistics can be handled so that way we can still check you two or three times, but at the same time we’re going to speed up those lines.”
The theme for this year’s Burning of Zozobra will be Steampunk, a unique subgenre of science fiction that draws inspiration from the Victorian era, incorporating elements of steam-powered machinery.
Sandoval said based on feedback from last year’s audience, cutting down on crowd size is just one of the changes they’ll be making. Others include pink porta potties for female guests.
“One of the things our female patrons kept telling us is the porta potties were just a mess,” he said.
This year’s event will also offer more seating, with chairs in two premium viewing sections and new sections of bleachers. Attendees will also be given an LED wristband that changes colors in sync with the performance.
“When the fire spirit comes out, the entire 50,000 crowd will turn red,” Sandoval said. “When Zozobra’s on fire, your wristband will look like it’s on fire.”
You can purchase tickets and follow event announcements on Zozobra’s website.