
The Doomed Cleveland Balloonfest of '86
About this video
A short Atlantic documentary on Cleveland's 1986 Balloonfest, when 1.5 million balloons were released at once and the attempt went badly wrong.
Why it appears in the archive
Cited as a shorthand for a spectacularly misguided publicity stunt, or as a classic embarrassing Cleveland episode.
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From the Hacker News discussion
The two best things denigrating Cleveland: Balloonfest ( [VIDEO] ) & your already mentioned Mike Polk Jr's tourism videos ( [VIDEO] & [LINK] ). If you can get past the dreary gray skies for 8 months of the year, Cleveland is cheap (even the nicer suburbs like Solon or Aurora) and has easy access to scenic western PA & upstate NY.
Read original comment ↗Welp. Pretty much as dumb as the Cleveland Balloon event[0]. I think it is funny as hell, but incredibly dumb, yes. "Cleveland, WE DID IT! YEEEAH". [0] [VIDEO]
Read original comment ↗You will need a lot of pricey Helium-filled airships to replace an average container ship. I guess the airspace will look somewhat like the Cleveland Balloonfest '86... [VIDEO] [LINK]
Read original comment ↗