The Disastrous Cleveland Balloonfest of 1986

Terminal Tower. Lake Erie. Metroparks Zoo. University Circle. The Forest City. All were about to bear witness to an event the like of which had never been seen before.

‘Cleveland, it’s your time. It’s time to say yes, it’s time to say: This is a happening city. We are on the move. We are no longer the butt of jokes.’

Six months of preparations had led up to this point. Cleveland was about to step out of the shadow of Columbus. Under Terminal Tower, a 1920s skyscraper, the tallest in the world outside New York when it was built, sat a temporary structure the size of a city block. Four wire fences and a huge net for a roof. Inside, 2,500 volunteers sat around pipes through which helium gas flowed, inflating one balloon after another. The balloons floated up like embers, joining an enormous blanket of other balloons, almost 1.5 million of them, identical but for their colours. Cleveland had never seen anything like this.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, there is no Mistake on the Lake anymore!’

Cleveland was a major industrial centre of the United States during the first half of the 20th century. This came with drawbacks. By the 60s, pollution had spun out of control. Waste from factories and…