From: AHappyLove@aol.com
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 01:22:37 EST
Subject: IBAC in Chicago - One Outsider's Opinion
To: balloon@balloonhq.com

  ZuZu the Clown here... If you all can stand one more opinion on IBAC, 
remember it's JUST AN OPINION!! I was across the street at the Halloween & 
Party Show and attended the "Festival of Balloons" as they call it on Sunday, 
the last day of IBAC.
        First of all, there was a $5.00 charge PER ADULT to go in and see the 
balloons. Children under 12 were free I believe. 
        I spoke with several "civilian" attendee's (non - IBAC or balloon 
people) and they said there was VERY heavy media coverage of the event, hence 
the large crowd.
        While waiting in line to get in the main room, I saw several children 
coming out with double stuffed 16" or so helium balloons. How nice, I 
thought, giving the children balloons.
        Inside was chaos ! ! ! Too many people being let in and big jam ups. 
They should have let groups go in, then wait, etc. Anyway, the balloons were 
nice! At least the decorator sculptures were. The twister's balloons were 
mostly unrecognizable by then. Many people just stared at them asking 
themselves and others "what is it?". It would have been nice to at least have 
a description.
        On to the next room (which by the way, if you left the first room, 
you could NOT reenter once you went into the second room (are you lost 
yet??). This is where the helium balloons were that the children were 
getting. I stepped up to get one for my niece and was told that "the balloons 
are $2.00 & $3.00."
        Adults paying $5.00 to get in, then raped on helium balloons for 
kids?? I was very surprised and a bit mad. Didn't IBAC collect enough money 
from the attendee's? Maybe they could have made smaller helium balloons to be 
passed out for free for the children. It would have been a nice gesture.
        Marvin Hardy was on stage in that room making balloons. It was hard 
to get around because of so many people sitting on the floor watching..... 
poorly planned.
        Ran into Ken "Flash" Stillman there. Outside the second room where we 
were sitting, he was showing a couple of people some things from his balloon 
encyclopedia. Of course a crowd started to gather. Kids wanted the balloons. 
Requests came from all sides, no matter if they had helium balloons or not. 
It was VERY HARD to cut them off after a while. 3 of us tried for a while, 
then quit or we would have been there all day.
        Then Pioneer had their table set up selling balloon instruction 
books, pumps, bags of balloons, and back issues of Balloon Magic. 
        They had a good crowd trying to buy books, balloons and pumps from 
people wanting to do what they had just seen in the other room. Talk about 
shooting fish in a barrel ! ! Prices were good, but they were selling books 
that were not good for the beginner. And Balloon Magic, for the beginner 
?????? It was shameless the way they were shilling. It would have been nice 
to see them EDUCATE THE CROWD, so that the people could buy at their level 
and get interested in twisting.
        I guess I feel that with all of the money that Pioneer made, they 
could have given something back to the people of Chicago. I heard MANY 
complaints that they would NEVER come again. It's sad, because it is a good 
way to expose the public to the joys of balloons and twisting.
        Sorry for being so long, and please don't flame me too much as I live 
very near the sun anyway. 

                           ;   )            ZuZu