Balloonfest 1986
Coordinates: 41 ° 29 ′ 59 ″ N , 81 ° 41 ′ 38 ″ W The 1986 Balloonfest was a balloon flight competition heldin Cleveland , Ohio by the American non-profit organization United Way . The simultaneous release of 1.4 million balloons was a world record . The event was planned as a harmless fundraising drive for the 150th anniversary of United Way , but the balloons floated back over the city, Lake Erie and the surrounding area causing problems in traffic and at a nearby airport. A rescue operation by the United States Coast Guard was also disrupted. The two missing sailors were later found drowned. City and organizers weresuedfor damages amounting to millions, which made the campaign a losing deal.
Preparations
The action was coordinated by Balloonart by Treb from Los Angeles , which spent six months preparing. A 46 × 61 m, three story high frame was erected on the southwestern part of Public Square . In order to fix the balloons, a one-piece net was stretched over them. 2500 volunteers filled the balloons with helium for hours . United Way originally planned to release two million balloons. In fact, it stayed at 1.4 million. Schoolchildren sold sponsorships for a dollar for two balloons. The proceeds went to United Way.
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When a storm hit on Saturday, September 27, 1986, the organizers decided to launch the balloons early at 1:50 p.m. EST . 1,429,643 balloons rose from Public Square, surrounded the Terminal Tower and broke the world record set for the 30th anniversary of Disneyland last year .
Effects
The balloons initially moved south, but encountered a cold front and rain. The wind turned and pushed the balloons back north, where they sank to the ground. This led to traffic delays on roads and waterways in northeast Ohio. Even days after the event, balloons were washed up on the Canadian shores of Lake Erie in northern Cleveland.
Two fishermen , Raymond Broderick and Bernard Sulzer, who had set sail the day before, were reported missing by their families on the day of the Balloonfest. Rescue workers discovered the 16- foot boat anchored west of the breakwater at Edgewater Park in Cleveland . A Coast Guard rescue helicopter struggled to reach the area because of the "asteroid field" of balloons. On September 29, the Coast Guard stopped their search. The bodies of the fishermen were later washed ashore. A fisherman's wife sued United Way of Cleveland and the operating company for $ 3.2 million; they later agreed in a settlement .
Landing balloons in a pasture in Medina County, Ohio frightened an Arabian horse so badly that it suffered permanent injuries. Its owner sued United Way of Cleveland for damages in the amount of 100,000 US dollars and also reached a settlement.
A runway at Burke Lakefront Airport had to be closed for half an hour after balloons landed there. There have been reports of traffic accidents when drivers tried to avoid the dense ballooning or were distracted by the spectacle in the sky.
Web links
- The evil cloud. Article by Solveig Grothe at einestages , April 27, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Gail Ghetia Bellamy: Cleveland Summertime Memories: A Warm Look Back . Gray & Company, Cleveland 2013, ISBN 1-938441-50-8 , pp. 65 .
- ↑ a b June Kikuchi: A Business Full of Hot Air . In: Orange Coast Magazine . 14, No. 2, February 1988, pp. 186f. ISSN 0279-0483 .
- ^ A b c d e f g John Kroll: Balloonfest 1986, the spectacle that became a debacle: Cleveland Remembers . In: The Plain Dealer , August 15, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d e Michael O'Malley: 25 years ago, thousands watched a balloon launch on Public Square . In: The Plain Dealer . September 26, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
- ↑ a b Simon McCormack: Releasing 1.5 Million Balloons Into The Air Is A Bad Idea . In: The Huffington Post . April 24, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
- ^ A b Tom Livingston: Cleveland's 1986 Balloonfest, the world record that went bust , newsnet5 Cleveland. August 8, 2013. Archived from the original on October 18, 2015 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved July 4, 2016.
- ↑ a b Jordan Kushins: That Time Cleveland Released 1.5 Million Balloons and Chaos Ensued . Gizmodo . April 22, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
