© David I. Andersen, Sep. 27, 1986, Balloonfest in Cleveland
BALLOONFEST 1986: THE SPECTACLE THAT BECAME A DEBACLE
On Saturday, Sept. 27, 1986, close to 1.5 million balloons boiled up from Cleveland’s Public Square, engulfing Terminal Tower and setting a world record. In the hours and days and weeks that followed, the United Way executives who had engineered the feat were reminded of the basic law of gravity: What goes up must come down…
Down, in this case, on Burke Lakefront Airport, shutting down a runway there. Down on a pasture in Medina County, spooking a horse, whose owner would sue and later settle with the charity. Down on Lake Erie, blanketing the water just as a Coast Guard helicopter arrived to search for two missing boaters - who would later be found, drowned; the wife of one of them also sued, and also settled. Down weeks later on the shores of the lake - the northern shores, where Ontario residents found their beaches littered with thousands of deflated balloons. (+, +, +)
(via PetaPixel)
Ohhhh, Cleveland. <3
Pretty amazing photos, though.
