A whole lotta hot air at the International Balloon Arts Convention

Ellen Fox   Newcity New  March 1999

At seventeen feet tall, Flik, that lovable blue ant of "A Bug's Life" fame, looms large over awe-struck children and mechanically bats his bulbous eyelids at onlookers every fifteen seconds.

He's also sporting more latex than the football team on prom night. An amalgamation of a whopping 15,840 balloons, Flik took first place this past weekend in the International Balloon Arts Convention's large sculpture competition at the Hyatt O'Hare's Grand Ballroom. He beat out the bevy of other rubber behemoths also on display - from mermaids and sumo wrestlers to one Italian-made entry in which the Holy Father sternly watches over misbehaving humans.

Signs warn itchy fingers to look, but please don't touch. Every few seconds, however, a pop goes off in an adjacent room where zany artisans are squiggling together hats and other rubber sundries for the kids. Two hours later, the crowds clear and the results of 2,000 man-hours will be broken down the old fashioned way - popped with pocketknives and utility scissors.

The proceedings are never without a little regret. "The first time we came, we did a ballerina in a jewelry box and that was very hard to pop. It was an emotional piece," says Debbie Reichert, whose New Jersey-based company boasts thousand-dollar gigs at sports stadiums and the Forbes mansion. And when you finally do it? "It's deafening," Reichert laughs.