Releasing 1,500,000 Balloons Went Horribly Wrong

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Releasing 1,500,000 Balloons Went Horribly Wrong

Being a human being is all about testing the limits of the world around us. We always want to climb the highest peaks, or build the biggest boats...heck, it’s always about bigger and better!

And that’s why we’re always looking to break world records. Because we want to outdo our peers and feel proud about all the achievements that we’ve made in our lives.

That’s why it’s called human nature...

So, what happens when we try to take our insatiable desire for great feats and push it to its limits?

Well...a disaster, of course!

In 1986, an attempt to shatter the previous world record of the most balloons released in a
single go took place in Cleveland, Ohio.

The event, which was publicized on television as a friendly fund-raising show, turned out to be a disaster of epic proportions.

In the end, the disaster came to be known as the infamous Balloonfest ‘86.

And today, we’re here to revisit just what went wrong with this release of 1.5 million balloons in a single go!
You won’t believe just how this catastrophe led to the loss of innocent lives...lives that could potentially have been saved if the event never took place.
The Crazy Idea
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In 1986, United Way of Cleveland, a non-profit organization based in Ohio, wanted to gain more traction for their company around the world.

After hours of planning and brainstorming ideas, they decided the best way to do so was
to break the world record for the most balloons released simultaneously that had been set in
1985 by Disney in Anaheim California.

This was in the wake of the company celebrating their 30th anniversary since the magnificent theme park was built in the mid 1950s.

Well, it took United Way more than six months of planning to take the event from concept to reality. A large net structure the size of a city block was set up to contain the balloons.

Located in Cleveland’s Public Square, the site was designed to attract the largest number of onlookers possible.
Talk a lot about planning everything down to the very last detail. In fact, a lot of technical research and consultation had to take place through the city permits.


More than 2,500 volunteers - the majority of which were students - spent the morning of Sept. 27 filling balloons with helium. Local media swarmed around the area, interviewing organizers, participants and observers.

At last, September 27th, the fateful day of the stunt, arrived. You can imagine how excited everyone was!

In fact, the event was initially scheduled for the release of about 2 million balloons. But because of an initial weather predicition that a storm was fast approaching, the organzers decided to release the balloons earlier than was expected; with about 1.5 million considered the best bet.

At exactly 1:50 p.m., more than 1.5 million balloons were released, and they rose up steadily to Cleveland’s Public Square, surrounding the Terminal Tower.

All was going well...or so it seemed.

With the balloons free, the organizers believed that they would remain in the air until they were fully deflated before falling back down to earth.

Unfortunately, that’s not what fate had in mind.

After the balloons were let go, these floating, elastic, colorful bundles of joy filled with helium collided with a front of cool air and rain; causing them to fall back down to the ground while they were still inflated.

Here’s where everything went wrong, as what happened next seemed like a plot right out of a science fiction movie.

A Ticking Time Bomb
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As millions of balloons fell back down to earth, they littered all the land around them; not to mention clogging waterways all through the Northeast of Ohio.

To make matters worse, a large chunk of these balloons also washed ashore on the Canadian section of Lake Erie, making the lake look like a colorful sea of floating balloons.

I’m sure every environmental activist was fuming at such a catastrophe and the dangers it posed. I mean, how irresponsible were the organizers to let such a disaster take place?

But the balloons weren’t done with their streak of destruction yet!

A good number of balloons landed on farms and ranches across Medina County in Ohio. One ranch owner, Louise Nowakoski, owned some expensive Arabian horses in the area.

According to reports, her horses were extremely spooked and bewildered by the unfamiliar items falling from the sky. This resulted in them being extremely injured, and Nowakowski went on to sue United Way for more than $100,000 in damages.

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