Brad “The Balloon Guy” Wood finished his balloon tribute to the movie Aliens on Sept. 18.
The ‘80s-inspired build featured a larger-than-life replica of the ‘power loader’ featured in the movie, with heroine Ellen Ripley strapped in—made entirely out of balloons. The sculpture was accompanied by balloon replicas of other figures from the movie, including Queen Xenomorph, Bishop, and Newt.
The build was on Wood’s “balloon bucket list” for over a decade. It took 25 hours and over 1,000 balloons to create. Photos of the build garnered attention on social media, accumulating over 500 likes on Facebook.
The Aliens tribute was one of several creations Wood has made since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
“I never had, you know, 25 hours in a week where I could build an alien battle in my backyard,” Wood said.
He began making his balloon creations in 2004, and it became his full-time job in 2008.
Until the pandemic hit Ottawa in March 2020, Wood performed balloon and comedy shows regularly at birthday parties and corporate events for companies such as the Ottawa Senators, Enbridge Gas and Ottawa Hydro.
He said his inability to use inventory for events allowed him to focus on personal projects.
“Balloons kind of do have a shelf life, they don’t actually last forever,” he said. “I don’t have events, I don’t have to spend a ton of money on balloons, I just kind of get the odd few bags here and there for the different special fun creations that I’m doing.”
Although the pandemic gave him more time to work on his passion projects, Wood said he misses seeing children’s reactions.
“The hardest part is that I’m not able to actually perform,” he added. “I’ve been going to people’s houses from a distance to drop off balloons.”
Brian Wilson is the CEO of Orbital Talent, the agency that manages Wood’s bookings. The pair met at one of Wood’s first shows in the early 2000s. Wilson said the entertainment industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had to shut everything down for basically the year,” he said.
He added that Orbital Talent attempted to make up for financial losses by creating virtual programming.
“We’re starting to work on getting some virtual ideas out there in the world and sort of work on what the new normal is—at least for the next year or two,” Wilson said.
Wood charges upwards of $30 for each two-to four-foot tall build, and over $100 for larger ones. Wood made several balloon lawn flamingos last week for customers around Ottawa and charged $10 each. He said the builds can be altered to reflect customers’ interests.
Golding reposted a Facebook photo of four flamingo-sized balloon velociraptors before realizing they were on her lawn.
“A couple hours later, I sent my kid out to go outside and pick up our mail … And he comes running back and says, ‘Mom, mom, there are dinosaurs on our lawn!’ [I didn’t realize] that it was my lawn that the dinosaurs had been put on.”
The “wonderful” and “highly detailed” velociraptors, Golding said, were requested by her husband. Several family jokes about lawn flamingos and dinosaurs inspired the prank.
Wood said despite the challenges COVID-19 has brought, he is determined to continue his work and excite others.
“The thing about this job is, like anything, if you love it and kind of keep putting more and more into it, it’ll kind of keep working for you,” he said. “This whole COVID thing, it’s not ideal for anyone … but I kind of looked at it like, ‘Okay, so let’s see what I can do here.’”
Golding said balloon recipients feel Wood’s passion.
“I think that the people who receive this feel heard or recognized,” Golding said. “I just think it’s a wonderful fun thing to share.”
Featured image provided by Brad Wood.
