Yesterday the downtown T. Boone Pickens YMCA celebrated its new branding (they’ve got a fancy new “Y” logo) by doing a balloon release from atop their building as onlookers in the CitySquare parking lot cheered. I caught a glimpse of the proceedings (and a couple photos) from our 21st-floor offices a block away.
My understanding is that balloon releases are a no-no. Sure, the balloons are pretty as they float away, but what goes up must come down. Critters can eat the latex, producing bad results. Accordingly, some states have outlawed balloon releases. Balloon advocates will say this concern is overblown, that a latex balloon will biograde just as quickly as an oak leaf. Well, sure. But it takes two years for an oak leaf to biodegrade, and you don’t have to worry about animals eating an oak leaf and choking on it. Seems that marine animals are the most likely to mistake balloons for food (because they look like jellyfish), and Dallas isn’t exactly a breeding ground for sea turtles. But still.
Seems to me the YMCA could have saved some money on the balloons and helium and instead celebrated by — I don’t know — slaughtering a fattened goat and burning the thigh pieces so that the black smoke rose to the heavens and pleased the gods. I’m not an event organizer. I’ll leave the details to someone else.