Watching a colorful balloon drift away into the sky ignites a basic childlike joy within us all.

But can you imagine the mind-blowing spectacle of watching one and a half million balloons being released all at once?

Well, that's exactly what executives from Cleveland USA's United Way charity set out to achieve on Saturday the 27th of September, 1986.

With months of careful planning and an ambitious vision in mind, this had all the makings of a

historic event that would put the city on the map once and for all.

But on that fateful day, the people of Cleveland were about to be reminded of the basic

laws of gravity.

What goes up must always come down.

You're listening.

You're listening.

You're listening.

You're listening.

You're amazed.

United Way is a nonprofit organization which aims to tackle poverty and support local communities by focusing on improving essential areas of daily life, like education, income, and health.

What would later become known as Balloonfest 86 was organized by the charity as a fundraiser event that would not only benefit the community,

but would also be a major publicity

stunt for what many believed was an underappreciated city. Sounds good so far, right? The idea for a

record-breaking mass balloon release was inspired by some friendly competition with Disneyland's

first official park in Anaheim, California, which had previously set the world record in December

1985. To honor the 30th anniversary of the park's opening in 1955, as well as what would have

been Walt Disney's 84th birthday, classmates from Anaheim High School helped to fill one million

balloons with helium in large tents before they were mass released from the parking lot during an

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