The Balloonfest '86 Incident

In late 1985, Disney had just set the record for the most helium balloons ever released. As a way to kick off their 1986 United Way campaign, the city of Cleveland thought breaking this record would be a great way to draw attention to the fundraising event.

But the balloon release didn't exactly go as planned... This is a look back at Balloonfest '86 when an impending storm caused 1.5 million balloons to play havoc with traffic, waterways, and an airport.

Besides spreading all the way to Canada, the balloons also caused issues during a search for two missing boaters on Lake Erie. Balloonfest '86 became pretty infamous, but was it really the "deadly disaster" that various outlets have reported it to be...?

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