Latest Balloons Stories

COASTGUARDS reminded parents and children enjoying the school holidays yesterday that many hidden dangers lurk along Wales' beautiful coastline. Sunday's accident at Cefn Sidan is not the first time a youngster has been killed after excavating unstable sand. In August 1922 Edward Buxton, 11, of Manchester was killed after tunnelling in sand atHarlech, Gwynedd, and Andrew Baxter, 13, died in similar circumstances at Burry Port in August 1960. Yesterday Dave Hughes, watch manager at...

By Adam Brandolph, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Jul. 26--Cleo Zell stretched the end of a water balloon, wrapped it around her index and middle fingers and tied a knot. Zell, 30, of Lawrenceville is looking for a fight -- a water balloon fight. She and volunteers plan to have 10,000 water balloons armed and ready for the second annual Market Square Water Balloon Fight this afternoon. "It's a crazy idea that we hope brings communities together," said Zell, co-founder of Picnic!, a group...

By Imani Tate Art and entertainment collided when Don Caldwell of Garden Grove was 18, giving him the chance "to be an artist and a ham all at once." Caldwell, a nationally acclaimed balloon artist and entertainer for schools, libraries, community centers, clubs and corporate affairs, has been best known as Buster Balloon for more than 20 years. Remembering his childhood treks to four libraries within a 10- mile radius of his family home, Caldwell confessed that libraries are still among...

BEND, Ore. - Using his trusty BB gun to help him return to Earth, a 48-year-old gas station owner flew a lawn chair rigged with helium- filled balloons more than 200 miles across the Oregon desert Saturday, landing in a field in Idaho. Kent Couch created a sensation in the tiny farming community of Cambridge, Idaho, where he touched down safely in a pasture and was soon greeted by dozens of people who gave him drinks of water, local plumber Mark Hetz said. "My wife works at the City...

USING his trusty ball-bearing gun to help him return to Earth, a 48-year-old flew a lawn chair rigged with helium-filled balloons more than 200 miles across the Oregon desert, landing in a field in Idaho. Kent Couch created a sensation in the tiny farming community of Cambridge, where he touched down safely in a pasture and was soon greeted by dozens of people, local plumber Mark Hetz said. "My wife works at the City Market," Mr Hetz said. "She called and said, 'The balloon guy in the lawn...

A man flying across Oregon in a lawn chair rigged with a rainbow array of more than 150 helium-filled party balloons has reached his destination. A reporter tracking Kent Couch for the Oregonian newspaper says he landed safely near Cambridge, Idaho, on Saturday afternoon. The 48-year-old lifted off at dawn from his gas station in Bend, Ore., and flew with the wind at about 20 mph. "If I had the time and money and people, I'd do this every weekend," Couch said before getting into the chair....

By JEFF BARNARD By Jeff Barnard The Associated Press BEND, Ore. Riding a green lawn chair supported by a rainbow array of more than 150 helium-filled party balloons, Kent Couch succeeded Saturday in his third bid to fly from central Oregon all the way to Idaho. "If I had the time and money and people, I'd do this every weekend," Couch said before getting into the chair. "Things just look different from up there. You're moving so slowly. The best thing is the peace, the serenity." Each...