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-
00:10This was meant to be a charity fundraiser,
00:13and 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.
00:27The event was called Balloon Fest,
00:29and it was Cleveland's way of trying to rebrand.
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, including the construction of a net the size of a city block.
01:22It took thousands of volunteers hours to fill the balloons.
01:26And 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.
01:49I do want to remind everybody in part of Ohio, we continue with that severe thunderstorm watch until 1 a.m.
01:55And about an hour before the storm, two men had gone out fishing.
01:59On the morning of the 27th, the day of Balloon Fest, the two men were reported missing by their families.
02:07Their boat was found abandoned on the lake and 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, over 100,000 people had gathered to witness the balloon launch.
02:28The organizers were pleased that last night's storm had 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.
02:51Five, four, three, two, one.
02:55Here they go.
02:56There was no doubt about it.
03:14The launch was spectacular.
03:16It was a tremendous moment of triumph for the city of Cleveland.
03:23But unfortunately, this moment of triumph did not last long.
03:28The expectation was that the helium-filled balloons would float around for a while before eventually
03:34deflating and returning to Earth one by one.
03:36But that wasn't what happened.
03:38And the wind has just shifted just enough that the balloons are now trailing fast.
03:43This is beautiful.
03:44The balloons are coming back this way.
03:45They're coming back.
03:46The cold air and oncoming rain immediately pushed the still inflated balloons, tens of thousands of them, back down towards the ground in droves.
03:56The result was mass chaos.
04:00Balloons, one and a half million of them caused quite a stir in Cleveland yesterday.
04:04A northerly wind quickly carried the balloons to Burke Lakefront Airport.
04:09And within minutes, the runways were so clogged that all flights had to be suspended.
04:14The balloons also started to descend on certain streets.
04:18And after a number of car accidents, these roads had to be closed until a bulldozer arrived to clear out the balloons.
04:26As all this was going on, the Coast Guard was still out looking for the two missing fishermen.
04:32Ironically, that big balloon launch at Cleveland today is one of the things that's making this search so tough for the Coast Guard.
04:38Balloons had descended on Lake Erie in massive quantities.
04:42There's 60 percent of the balloons launched landed here instead of the planned 10 percent.
04:47It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack here.
04:50Can you imagine trying to find somebody floating out here or even spotting a life jacket with all these balloons on the water?
04:56On September 29th, two days after the balloons were launched, the Coast Guard finally called off the search for the two missing fishermen.
05:05And shortly after, both men's bodies washed ashore.
05:08Balloon Fest was featured in the 1988 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
05:15However, that was the only edition to include it.
05:19And shortly after, Guinness ended the category of balloon launching altogether.
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