Biodegradable... Sort Of
The balloons were technically biodegradable, but that didn't make clean-up much easier. It took several months for the balloons to break down. A man from Ontario, Canada complained about the environmental nuisance, stating, "These balloons, being made of plastic, are not readily biodegradable and, thus, will create an eyesore for some time to come, or else be an unnecessary and time-consuming expense for someone to clean up."
Balloonfest Made History
The city of Cleveland garnered plenty of attention from their publicity stunt—for all the wrong reasons. Balloonfest did succeed in breaking the record, and the event was featured in 1988's Guinness Book of World Records. However, in 1994, the record was broken once again when 1.7 million balloons were released in Hillshire, England, meaning that Cleveland's grand gesture was all for naught. Cleveland wasn't the only city to cause a manmade environmental disaster...