The Big Balloon Build is a traveling international festival that fashions unique, temporary dream worlds entirely from balloons — thousands upon thousands of them. Visitors can explore the immersive exhibit at their own pace and lose themselves in the weird and wonderful balloon creations within.
If you’ve never heard of it, that may be because the event has never appeared in Northern Colorado before now. Thanks to local balloon artist Allison Dunning, the ballroom at the Aims Community College welcome center in Greeley is being transformed into a space-themed wonderland — at least, for the weekend.
The Big Balloon Build is going on now through Sunday, July 23, at the Aims Community College welcome center in Greeley. General admission hours for the show are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased online, and it's $15 for adults, $10 for kids 6-17, and free for kids under 6.
“All of these balloon artists come from around the world, literally,” Dunning said. “We have England, Sweden, all over the United States. And they pay their own way to come and do this for our community here. So, they're there paying to make our community a better place.”
The event is a fundraiser for local charities in the city in which it’s held. As the host of Colorado’s Big Balloon Build, Dunning chose Life Stories Child & Family Advocacy, a Weld County nonprofit that works to help children who have been abused and neglected.
“Abuse happens and nobody wants to talk about it,” Dunning said. “I chose them because I want to bring light and joy to the world, and I can bring awareness about what they do so that more children can be served.”
On Tuesday, more than 70 balloon artists had set up shop in the Aims ballroom, working quickly to transform the space with just a few days to do it.
Some used small but powerful air machines to inflate balloons of all sizes and colors. Others were tying the balloons to wire frames, artfully crafted into spaceships, solar systems, walls of fire and ice, and a giant space castle. In another room, artists were hand-twisting balloons into creatures like dinosaurs, whimsical flower-people, even a friendly but abominable balloon Yeti.
It's a huge undertaking, with more than 150,000 balloons used by the time the builds were finished. (The balloons are biodegradable, by the way.)
Dunning said she felt gratified by the response from the community of artists who wanted to come to Greeley for this event.
“These are my people. And they chose this build because I'm the host," she said. "All the 22 years of ballooning I've been doing, I feel like I'm receiving what I give to other people.”
Wondering what happens to all those thousands of balloons when the weekend is over? Why, the Big Balloon Pop, of course. On Monday morning, people can rent a tool called a striker and pop hundreds of balloons in a matter of minutes. Later, the balloons will be sent to a New Jersey facility where they’ll get a second life after being recycled into yoga mats.
Tickets for the Big Balloon Pop can be purchased online in advance for $10, and the event takes place from 8-11 a.m. on Monday.
And though it might seem that such a swift de-construction of this magical space might be depressing for Dunning and her fellow balloon artists, she said it’s a form of closure for her.
“Some art is meant to be there permanently for the rest of the world. My art is temporary art,” she laughed. “It is there to bring joy for the moment, to celebrate the occasion. And then it's to be remembered in our memories, as opposed to encapsulated forever and put on the wall. We need temporary art because it's something to be surprised by. And that's what we're here to do.”
