Balloonfest: Clevelands 1986 Float-tastrophe of Epic Proportions

06/11/24 • 60 min

The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things

In this episode of the Compendium, we step back into time to revist The Cleveland Balloon Fest of 1986, a high-flying event that hoped to lift a city's spirits but instead spiraled into one of the most infamous blunders of the decade. I tell Adam all the juicy details of this helium-filled fiasco, where ambition met reality with explosive environmental consequences. We'll explore how this well-intentioned charity event turned into a disaster, examining the safety concerns of mass balloon releases and their unintended environmental impacts.

You'll hear how a city’s attempt to set a world record became a case study in event planning disasters. The story highlights significant points in environmental activism history and raises questions about the safety practices surrounding helium balloons, ultimately becoming a controversial chapter in the Guinness World Records.

We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:

“The Balloon Fest That Went Horribly Wrong” - The Atlantic
“Balloonfest 86” - Wikipedia
“Understanding the Impact of Balloon Releases” - HRSD
“Balloonfest” - Apple tv Documentary by Nathan Truesdell

Host & Show Info

Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
About: Kyle and Adam are more than just your hosts, they’re your close friends sharing intriguing stories from tales from the darker corners of true crime, the annals of your forgotten history books, and the who's who of incredible people.
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin

Community & Calls to Action

⭐ Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
📸 Follow us on Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
🌐 Visit us at: TheCompendiumPodcast.com
❤️ Early access episodes: Patreon

📤 Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favorite takeaway.

We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:

“The Balloon Fest That Went Horribly Wrong” - The Atlantic
“Balloonfest 86” - Wikipedia
“Understanding the Impact of Balloon Releases” - HRSD
“Balloonfest” - Apple tv Documentary by Nathan Truesdell

Host & Show Info

Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
About: Kyle and Adam are more than just your hosts, they’re your close friends sharing intriguing stories from tales from the darker corners of true crime, the annals of your forgotten history books, and the who's who of incredible people.
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin

Community & Calls to Action

⭐ Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
📸 Follow us on Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
🌐 Visit us at: TheCompendiumPodcast.com
❤️ Early access episodes: Patreon

📤 Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favorite takeaway.

Previous Episode

Anna Delvey: From Rags to Riches to Rikers, New Yorks Fake Heiress

In this episode of the Compendium, we are diving into part two of our female scammer series where I tell Adam all about Anna Delvey, New York's infamous fake heiress.

Originally born Anna Sorokin in Russia, Anna set out to take what she wanted and nothing was going to stand in her way, not even being poor. We recount Annas first initial appearance in the glittering social scene, her ambitions plans to secure funding for the “Anna Delvey Foundation: For Kids that Can’t Read Good”, to her dramatic downfall and the media frenzy that was her trial!

Anna’s story blurs the lines between ambition and deception, is it okay to fake it until you make it?

We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:

"My Friend Anna" by Rachel DeLoach Williams
"How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People" by Jessica Pressler
"Inventing Anna" Netflix mini series

Host & Show Info

Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
About: Kyle and Adam are more than just your hosts, they’re your close friends sharing intriguing stories from tales from the darker corners of true crime, the annals of your forgotten history books, and the who's who of incredible people.
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin

Community & Calls to Action

⭐ Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
📸 Follow us on Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
🌐 Visit us at: TheCompendiumPodcast.com
❤️ Early access episodes: Patreon

📤 Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favorite takeaway.

Next Episode

Lover, Stalker, Killer: Disturbing love triangle turned deadly

In this episode of the Compendium, When David Kroupa ventured into online dating, he couldn't have foreseen the terrifying love triangle that would ensnare him and Liz Golyar, leading to the mysterious disappearance of Cari Farver.

This dark side of dating and the lengths to which some people will go to get the lover of their dreams. This is the disturbing realities behind online dating gone wrong.

We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:

“A Tangled Web: A Cyberstalker” - Leslie Rule
“State v. Golyar” - Findlaw.com
“Lover, Stalker, Killer” - Netflix film

Host & Show Info

Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
About: Kyle and Adam are more than just your hosts, they’re your close friends sharing intriguing stories from tales from the darker corners of true crime, the annals of your forgotten history books, and the who's who of incredible people.
Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin

Community & Calls to Action

⭐ Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
📸 Follow us on Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
🌐 Visit us at: TheCompendiumPodcast.com
❤️ Early access episodes: Patreon

📤 Share this episode with a friend! If you enjoyed it, tag us on social media and let us know your favorite takeaway.

The Compendium: An Assembly of Fascinating Things - Balloonfest: Clevelands 1986 Float-tastrophe of Epic Proportions

Transcript

[EPISODE 63] Balloonfest: Clevelands 1986 Float-tastrophe of Epic Proportions

[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: So of course, this just ended up completely undoing everything that Cleveland has set out to achieve just in the previous 12 months.

[00:00:08] Kyle Risi: And in the aftermath of all of this, the entire country of Canada was completely outraged because a lot of the balloon debris started washing up on their side of the lake and even though the ball