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You heard it before many times. Water is life. But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
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No. This is Our American Stories, and we bring you stories of all sorts on this program. And today we bring you a story about a catastrophe of epic proportions that took place in Cincinnati, Ohio. Here's Jesse. You can inflate a balloon in three seconds, four seconds, I understand.
How long is it going to take these kids with no experience? We're figuring that they'll do about two to three balloons a minute. I've been doing this since I was 15 years old, so it's unfair to compare, but two to three balloons a minute. Each kid is going to do correctly about 700 balloons or so for the day, and we'll do it in about four to six hours, all the balloons. Yeah.
In September of 1986, United Way of Cleveland, Ohio set a world record by releasing almost one and a half million balloons up into the sky. Don't remember, folks, don't park on the square because this ain't the place for your car this weekend. Back to you.
Sounds like fun, David. The event was intended to be a harmless fundraising publicity stunt, but the balloons drifted back over the city, Lake Erie, and land in the surrounding area, causing problems for traffic and the nearby airport. I understand we might have a northerly wind, too, so they'll all wind up over Canada. The stunt was coordinated by Balloon Art, a Los Angeles-based company that spent six months preparing for this. A rectangular structure the size of a city block measuring 250 feet by 150 feet and rising three stories high, covered with a one-piece net of woven mesh material, was set up to hold the balloons.
Inside the structure, 2,500 students and other volunteers spent many hours filling balloons with helium. Ladies and gentlemen, live from downtown. Cleveland. It's Big Chuck and Little Tom. in front of the biggest happening.
Oh my They originally planned to release two million balloons but stopped at over one point four million. What is your name? Tanya Pim.
Okay, Tanya, show everybody what you have on your hands there. What are those? Let's take bandages.
Okay, and what are they for? They're for you taking away from sores.
So it's from your hands.
Okay. Did you get any blister? Yeah, three. Are you having a good time? Yeah.
Are you tired? Yeah. Okay. The children would sell sponsorships to benefit United Way at the price of one dollar for every two balloons that were purchased.
Okay, Chuck, as you can see, they're going strong, they're blowing them up. I still think they have the record. Back to you, Chuck. Cleveland, it's your time. It's time to say yes.
It's time to say it is a happening city. We are on the move. It's no longer the butt of jokes or anything. I've been in this city now for six months, and I absolutely love it. My wife and I have even talked about moving here, and our friends in LA think we're nuts.
On Saturday, September 27th, 1986, with a rainstorm approaching, organizers decided on an early release of the balloons at about 1:50 p.m. Eastern. Seven, nine, eight. Salad. Six.
Five. Four. Yeah. Two, one. And the finness up, and there they go, John.
Close to 1.5 million balloons rose up from Cleveland's public square surrounding Terminal Tower. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no mistake on the lake anymore. Cleveland has now broken the Guinness Book of World Records and released over 1,500,000 balloons. Make it take it. Think of that, Chuck.
The Guinness Book of World Records, the Cleveland home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All of this in Cleveland, Ohio!
Now typically, a helium-filled latex balloon that's released outdoors will stay up in the air long enough to be deflated before it descends to Earth.
However, the balloon-fest balloons were hit with a front of cool air and rain, which caused them to drop towards the ground. still inflated, clogging the land and waterways of northeast Ohio. Two fishermen who had gone out on September 26th were reported missing by their families the day of the event. It's been an exhausting search for these Coast Guardsmen. They've been out on the water most of the day looking for two 40-year-old Cleveland men, Skim Sullivan and Raymond Broderick.
They went out fishing about an hour before last night's heavy storm blew through. This is their boat, a pair of life jackets still in it, along with a hat and a fishing pole. The boat's motor is gone. Its sides are battered, apparently, from pounding all night against this section of the breakwall off Edgewater Park. That's where the Coast Guard found the boat about 8:30 this morning.
When the crew tried to spot the fishermen floating in the lake, the balloons in the water made it impossible to spot anyone in the lake. Ironically, that big balloon launch in Cleveland today is one of the things that's making this search so tough for the Coast Guard. Can you imagine trying to find somebody floating out here or even spotting a life jacket with all these balloons on the water? It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack here because you're looking for more or less a head or an orange life jacket. Here you have a couple hundred thousand orange balloons and It's just hardly hard to decipher which is which.
On September 29th, the Coast Guard suspended its search. The fishermen's bodies were subsequently washed ashore. Because of weather, 60% of the balloons launched landed here instead of the planned 10%. Many of them were found on Lake Erie. The local airport had to shut down a runway.
Traffic collisions were also reported as drivers swerved to avoid slow-motion blizzards of multicolored balloons. But the balloons that covered the lake and caused concern on Saturday are no longer here today. No one's quite sure where they went, but at least they're no longer posing a threat to fish and wildlife, and they're not littering the lake. While the event was a total loss and a complete disaster, the 1988 copy of the Guinness Book of World Records recognized the event as a world record largest ever mass balloon release. with 1,429,643 balloons launched.
And that is Balloon Fest 86. For our American stories, I'm Jesse Edwards. And we have a real story to tell you. This is not, we're not making this up. It's really happened.
Mary Ellen bought two bunches of balloons to give to John and I here. She came down, and one of the. Bunches of balloons she had tied to her watch. And the watch opened up, and the balloons took the watch, and it's now going out east somewhere.
So, John and I say, if anybody finds Mary Allen's watch tied to a bunch of balloons like this, and if you return it to the station, we'll have all kinds of rewards for you. And great job as always on that, Jesse. And by the way, share our stories with your friends and send your stories to us. is what make them happen. This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories.
Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again, Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It helps us keep these great American stories coming. Your dream getaway, welcome in, starts at the airport.
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But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean, running water? With your support, St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbona.com. Here at the Almond Joy Factory, where tropical vibes abound, we use soft, fresh-tasting coconut.
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