As one reporter later recounted of Balloonfest ’86: “It was like almost a volcano when it went off”
NEED TO KNOW
- Balloonfest ’86 promised to raise publicity for the still-rebounding city of Cleveland with the release of around 1.5 million balloons, but things did not go as planned
- More than 100,000 people filled downtown’s Public Square for the charitable event, watching as the balloons were released, and quickly popped and plummeted into roads and waterways
- But while it’s viewed in hindsight as something of an environmental disaster, the scale of the event set a record
On Sept. 27, 1986, the Cleveland chapter of United Way planned to release some 1.5 million balloons — part publicity stunt, part record-breaker. Balloonfest ’86 promised to put Cleveland — then a city on the rebound — on the map, but things did not go as planned.
FOX 8’s Neil Zurcher, who covered the event at the time, later recounted of Balloonfest, “It was like almost a volcano when it went off. Just about everything in the world that could go wrong went wrong that weekend.”
More than 100,000 people filled downtown’s Public Square for the charitable event, watching as the balloons were released…