Published on: 10/24/2015IST

In 1986, charity organization United Way of Cleveland organized a spectacular stunt for fundraising and publicity: an attempt to set a new world record for simultaneously released balloons.

On Public Square, a structure as large as a city block was erected and covered with a mesh net. Beneath that, 2,500 volunteers worked for hours filling balloons with helium, aiming to fill 2 million.

Out of concerns about incoming foul weather, they decided to stop at around 1.5 million balloons. At 1:50 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, the net was lifted off the structure by large balloons, unleashing the millions of smaller balloons.

The balloons erupted upward and wrapped around Terminal Tower in a spectacular display. 

The hope was the specially made balloons would then float up, disperse and eventually biodegrade.

The weather had different plans. A front of cold air pushed the balloons back down to the ground, where they clogged streets, shut down a runway at Burke Lakefront Airport, and spooked the prized Arabian horses of one Louise Nowakowski.

Many of the balloons settled on the surface of Lake Erie, where a Coast Guard helicopter was searching for two fisherman who had disappeared the day before. After their bodies were found, the wife of one of the men sued United Way, on the grounds that the balloons on the lake would have made it impossible to spot the men.

Weeks later, thousands of deflated balloons were still washing up on the far shores of Lake Erie.