Balloonfest '86 was meant to be a historic celebration, but the event took some serious & unexpected turns. Watch and see how one city's ambition led tragic consequences.
******
If you enjoy this type of content, you know what to do. :)
******
The material used in this video is meant to be used for educational purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. For all inquiries, questions, and complaints, please use the email in the "about" page on my channel.
******
If you enjoy this type of content, you know what to do. :)
******
The material used in this video is meant to be used for educational purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. For all inquiries, questions, and complaints, please use the email in the "about" page on my channel.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In 1986, 1.5 million balloons were released in downtown Cleveland.
00:06Cleveland has now broken the Guinness Book of World Records and released over one million balloons.
00:10This was meant to be a charity fundraiser and a way to put the growing city of Cleveland on the map.
00:17But instead of being remembered as an impressive spectacle,
00:21it would go down in history as a fatal disaster.
00:24The event was called Balloon Fest, and it was Cleveland's way of trying to re-brand.
00:32You see, at the time, they had a pretty rough reputation,
00:36which was exemplified by its well-known nickname.
00:41City leaders wanted to prove that Cleveland wasn't a mistake,
00:45and that it was well on its way to becoming a world-class city.
00:49The previous year, Disneyland had claimed the Guinness World Record
00:53for the biggest simultaneous balloon launch.
00:56And for some reason, the city leaders thought that outdoing Disneyland
01:01was the perfect way to start cleaning up Cleveland's image.
01:05Soon after, the United Way of Cleveland developed their ambitious plan
01:10to launch nearly 1,500,000 balloons over the city.
01:15The event required six months of planning,
01:18including the construction of a net the size of a city block.
01:22It took thousands of volunteers hours to fill the balloons.
01:27And finally, on September 27, 1986, the day of Balloon Fest arrived.
01:35As these final preparations were underway in downtown Cleveland,
01:39a very different story was unfolding just to the east on Lake Erie.
01:45The previous night, a severe storm had rolled through the area.
01:49Do want to remind everybody in part of Ohio,
01:52we continue with that severe thunderstorm watch until 1 a.m.
01:55And about an hour before the storm, two men had gone out fishing.
02:00On the morning of the 27th, the day of Balloon Fest,
02:03the two men were reported missing by their families.
02:07Their boat was found abandoned on the lake,
02:10and authorities suspected that the men had fallen overboard because of the weather.
02:15The Coast Guard immediately began a search and rescue operation.
02:21Meanwhile, in Cleveland's Public Square,
02:23over 100,000 people had gathered to witness the balloon launch.
02:28The organizers were pleased that last night's storm
02:31had cleared in time for the event to go forward.
02:34But as the day wore on, the weather once again took a turn for the worse.
02:38A major rainstorm was closing in, but the balloons were already filled and ready to go.
02:44Rescheduling at this point would be near impossible.
02:48So instead, they released the balloons ahead of schedule.
03:09There was no doubt about it.
03:12The launch was spectacular.
03:16It was a tremendous moment of triumph for the city of Cleveland.
03:21But unfortunately, this moment of triumph did not last long.
03:26The expectation was that the helium-filled balloons would float around for a while
03:31before eventually deflating and returning to Earth one by one.
03:35But that wasn't what happened.
03:37And the wind has just shifted just enough that the balloons are now trailing past.
03:42This is beautiful. The balloons are coming back this way.
03:44They're coming back.
03:45The cold air and oncoming rain immediately pushed the still-inflated balloons,
03:50tens of thousands of them, back down towards the ground in droves.
03:55The result was mass chaos.
03:57Balloons, one and a half million of them, caused quite a stir in Cleveland yesterday.
04:02A northerly wind quickly carried the balloons to Burke Lakefront Airport.
04:07And within minutes, the runways were so clogged that all flights had to be suspended.
04:12The balloons also started to descend on certain streets.
04:16And after a number of car accidents,
04:18these roads had to be closed until a bulldozer arrived to clear out the balloons.
04:24As all this was going on,
04:26the Coast Guard was still out looking for the two missing fishermen.
04:30Ironically, that big balloon launch in Cleveland today
04:32is one of the things that's making this search so tough for the Coast Guard.
04:36Balloons had descended on Lake Erie in massive quantities.
04:4060% of the balloons launched landed here instead of the planned 10%.
04:45It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack here.
04:47Can you imagine trying to find somebody floating out here
04:50or even spotting a life jacket with all these balloons on the water?
04:54On September 29th, two days after the balloons were launched,
04:58the Coast Guard finally called off the search for the two missing fishermen.
05:03And shortly after, both men's bodies washed ashore.
05:07Balloon Fest was featured in the 1988 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
05:13However, that was the only edition to include it.
05:16And shortly after, Guinness ended the category of balloon launching altogether.