On Sept. 27, 1986, the Cleveland chapter of United Way attempted a breathtaking feat: releasing 1.5 million balloons into the sky in an event called Balloonfest ’86. Designed as a publicity stunt and record-setting spectacle, it was meant to showcase a city on the rise — but it didn’t go as planned.
FOX 8’s Neil Zurcher, who covered the launch, later recalled, “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 gathered in downtown Cleveland’s Public Square to watch the release. Within moments, the jubilant sight of colorful balloons filled the sky — and then chaos followed. The balloons scattered over the city and Lake Erie, where hundreds of thousands popped or fell back down, quickly dampening the celebration.
“It was overwhelming — balloons started boiling in the air,” FOX 8’s David Moss remembered in an earlier interview. “You thought, ‘Wow, we’re gonna drown in these balloons.’”…