‘They bring so much joy’
CLOWNS TRY TO STICK A PIN IN PROPOSED VANCOUVER PARKS BALLOON BAN
Jim Milburn, a.k.a. Dilly the Clown, relies on certain props in just about every one of his children’s acts. Of course, there’s a big, round red nose.
There’s his puppet — and “best buddy” — Mango the Monkey. And he’s always got an assortment of colourful balloons tucked in his back pocket waiting to be twisted and contorted into hats and wands.
“You say clown, there’s an expectation of balloons,” says Milburn, 66, a retired biomedical engineering technologist who lives in Maple Ridge, B.C. “Without balloons, it takes the fizz out of it.”
That heavy reliance on balloons is why the Milburns joined a handful of other children’s entertainers Monday at an East Vancouver park to rally against a proposal to ban all balloons in city parks and community centres — a move they called “extreme overreach.”
Wearing a bright pink pin reading “I Play With Latex,” Milburn called on the city’s park board to consider the impact such a ban would have on the entertainers’ livelihoods and to make the case that he and his clowning cohorts are responsible balloon artists who care about the environment.
“I’m a tree hugger as well. I’m a bona fide member of the Green Party,” he said. “Please don’t ban them outright. We’re willing to help do the education thing. Allow us to entertain the thousands of kids.”
Hours before a scheduled vote on the ban by Vancouver’s park board Monday evening, commissioner Stuart Mackinnon told National Post he never expected his motion to generate this much debate.
“I thought this was going to be a blip (on the radar),” he said.
Fellow commissioner John Coupar took a swipe at the motion on Twitter, saying there were far more serious issues that “take precedence” over a balloon ban. He included the hashtag #nofuncity in his post, for the city’s reputation for being dull.
Mackinnon said he loves clowns and understands the joy balloons can bring to children and the nostalgic feelings they can stir in adults.
But he said the evidence of environmental harm caused by balloons can’t be ignored.
“Although it seems frivolous, I think it’s quite important,” he said.
According to his motion, balloons made of latex or plastic are increasingly finding their way into landfills, beaches and oceans. Sea turtles, birds and dolphins sometimes mistake deflated balloons for food and swallow them.
Birds and marine animals can also become entangled in strings or ribbons attached to balloons, the motion says. It also notes that balloons can be fatal to young children.
Mackinnon said his intent was not to make the language of the ban punitive. At most, park rangers would inform families that balloons are no longer permitted and instruct them on how to dispose of the balloons properly.
“I don’t expect police to go around with pins popping balloons,” he said. “The intent of the motion is educational.”
Mackinnon is not alone in his quest to rein in balloon waste. Some American cities, from Washington state to Florida, have implemented full or partial bans.
There is an online petition asking the British Parliament to ban the release of balloons and sky lanterns into the air because of their potential to cause harm to wildlife and start wildfires.
The Balloon Council, an American-based organization representing balloon retailers and manufacturers, insists on its website that latex balloons are “100-percent natural” and will biodegrade at about the same rate as an oak leaf.
Clown artists who turned out for Monday’s rally said they are willing to work with the park board to reach a compromise.
Some said they would be OK with a partial ban targeting helium-filled balloons that can sometimes escape the clutches of a child.
“Only the Lord knows where they will land,” Milburn said.
But a ban on all balloons, they grumbled, goes too far.
“That would mean no balloons at Pride parade, no balloons at races,” said Kristal Yee, a Surrey, B.C.-based entertainer.
“It would be such a shame to take away something that is so fun because some people are not acting responsibly. … (Balloons) lead to happy memories. I think it was Winnie the Pooh who said, ‘Nobody can be uncheered by a balloon.’ They bring so much joy.”