Releasing 1.5 Million Balloons Into The Air Is A Bad Idea
With the best of intentions, Tom Holowach set out to create a massive spectacle. As Gizmodo reports, Holowach was the mastermind behind Cleveland, Ohio's Balloon Fest on September 27, 1986. Holowach explained his role in a Q&A this week: I was the Project Manager for this event. I worked on it for 6 months and lived in Cleveland for a month preparing for it. We had to design a structure this filled a city square and could stand up to 90 MPH winds, which was building code. The one-piece net was fabricated by the exact company I found in So Cal who built the cargo nets for the Space Shuttle. Kids in schools "sold" balloon sponsorships at 2 for a dollar that went to United Way. The goal was 2 million but we stopped at 1.4 + million. Though the event was a spectacle, as can be seen from the photos below, Balloon Fest ended in tragedy. As Viral Forest explains, a storm moved in and forced all of the balloons back over the city. Two fisherman whose boat ...