The World's Largest
Balloon Sculpture
35,000 balloons. One community. Infinite joy.
Everyone is right. You can't do it wrong.
Children and adults build together as equals.
What is the World's Largest Balloon Sculpture?
The World's Largest Balloon Sculpture is a family-oriented community participation art experience that brings together hundreds of volunteers, artists, friends, adults, and children of all religious and ethnic groups.
Together, we twist 50,000 long, skinny balloons into one gigantic freeform sculpture. It's a non-competitive art event where everyone is equal, and you can't do it wrong.
At the height of its creation, the sculpture is lowered to the ground and joyfully stomped into oblivion, releasing weeks worth of stored-up energy and bringing the community together in a shared moment of pure, uninhibited celebration.
How It Works
A simple process that creates profound connections and lasting memories
Invite a Community
Bring together people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. Everyone is welcome, everyone is equal.
Build Together
Twist 50,000 balloons into one magnificent sculpture. Children direct adults. There's no wrong way to participate.
Celebrate & Stomp
At its peak, we lower the sculpture and joyfully stomp it together. Pure cathartic release and celebration.
Share Stories & Healing
The sculpture disappears, but the essence of connection, peace, and community stays with everyone forever.
Our Impact & Values
More than art, more than balloons — it's a movement for peace, inclusion, and healing
World Peace
Building bridges across cultures, religions, and backgrounds through shared creative experience.
Radical Inclusion
Everyone is right. You can't do it wrong. Children and adults participate as true equals.
Emotional Wellness
Grounded in family systems therapy and emotional freedom, creating safe spaces for authentic expression.
Joy & Play
Adults and children play together with full enthusiasm, making life worth living through shared creativity.
Community Healing
The sculpture becomes a metaphor for healthy relationships: safety, trust, shared power, and graceful endings.
Growth Through Risk
When balloons pop, we get hugs. We learn that mistakes are opportunities, and vulnerability builds connection.
"Safety is the most critical requirement of relationship. Only in the context of a sheltering relationship can participants find the courage to melt the barriers to each other and, more importantly, the barriers to the awareness of their own feelings."— Dr. Mark Weiss, Founder of WLBS
Stories & Photo Gallery
Decades of joy, community, and 50,000 balloons at a time
Memphis in May
2004
Raising funds for Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center
Atlanta Children's Day
1985-2005
Featured event for 20 years at the Arts Festival
Nashville Summer Lights
Various
Community celebration and public art
Historic Moments
From the first sculpture in Sepulveda, California in 1965, to Memphis in May with Al Gore, to 20 years at Atlanta's Children's Day — each event has brought communities together in joy and peace.
"These events served a higher purpose – to raise funds for wonderful and deserving causes, while showing the world the great variety of cultural groups that make up our cities."
About Dr. Mark Weiss
Dr. Mark Weiss, Ph.D. is a marriage and family therapist, community healer, and the visionary founder of the World's Largest Balloon Sculpture.
Since creating the first balloon sculpture for the Unitarian Church in Sepulveda, California in 1965, Dr. Weiss has brought this transformative art experience to communities across the country for over five decades.
Drawing on his expertise in family systems therapy and emotional freedom techniques, Dr. Weiss designed the balloon sculpture as a living metaphor for healthy relationships — built on safety, equality, shared power, and the wisdom that growth requires risk.
Beyond his therapeutic work, Dr. Weiss is also an accomplished jazz vocalist, bringing the same spirit of improvisation, collaboration, and joy to both his music and his community-building work.
"In a world of ever-increasing change, the rules of relationship are constantly being re-examined. The World's Largest Balloon Sculpture illustrates some of the key principles of what works in relationship."
Through the balloon sculpture, Dr. Weiss has created a global movement that transcends art — it's a practice in peace, a lesson in inclusion, and a celebration of what happens when we build something beautiful together.
Bring the World's Largest Balloon Sculpture
to Your Community
Join the global movement for peace, inclusion, and joyful connection
Host an Event
Bring the balloon sculpture to your festival, school, JCC, or community center
Start a Chapter
Launch an ongoing chapter in your city and build community regularly
Donate
Support our mission to bring peace and joy to communities worldwide
Get Resources
Access toolkits, curriculum, and guides for organizers and educators
Together, We Build More Than Balloons
We build trust. We build community. We build a world where everyone belongs, everyone matters, and everyone can create something beautiful together.