The Doomed Cleveland Balloonfest of '86

I was fourteen when this happened, and besides it being a major event in Cleveland, the hosts were late night horror movie hosts Big Chuck and Lil John. That it failed miserably, resulting in the deaths of two people and a massive environmental clean up is probably the most Cleveland thing of my storied childhood. Balloons have been showing up in my painting since graduate school, and this is their origin story.