The “Ballooney Man” popped in to the Eunice Public Library for an hour-long balloon and magic show, bringing a lot of laughter with him.
Thursday morning, the Ballooney Man, whose real name is Rick Hessler, performed for about 30 children, parents and grandparents.
“Next year will make 20 years that I’ve been doing balloons,” he said. “The year after that, I got into magic, then I started wearing the red nose, and then I started doing stilts.”
Hessler has since traded his red clown nose for slacks, a button-down and a yellow smiley face necktie. Clowns, he said, scare people.
Hessler was born in New Orleans. His family moved to Lafayette in 1977. He received a degree in general studies from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). Last year, Hessler retired from the fire department after 20 years of service.
“I became a firefighter in ‘96, and married a girl from Opelousas. Ninety-eight is when I started twisting balloons,” Hessler said.
“I was thinking about what I could do to make money,” Hessler said. He then found a book about balloons at a bookstore.
The book reminded Hessler of the first time he saw a balloon artist, known as “Mr. Buddy.” “He was in a restaurant. Deano’s, in fact. I was on a date, years ago,” Hessler said, laughing. “Don’t remember the date; don’t remember the year it was. But he was doing balloons in the restaurant. And it freaked me out, the way he could do the balloon. And I wanted to give it a shot. Years go on, and you forget about things. The day I saw that book in the bookstore, I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve always wanted to learn that stuff.”
Hessler could not afford the book that day. As luck would have it, he found a copy at the Lafayette Public Library. “And that’s where I started. Got the book; checked it out.”
Hessler taught himself the art of balloon making before attending conventions in Florida, Texas and Tennessee.
Hessler, of course, still visits libraries. He performed at the Opelousas Public Library on Wednesday before visiting the Eunice Public Library.
He still visits Deano’s Pizza in Lafayette, too. Hessler has, in fact, made balloon figures at Deano’s for 17 years. Five years ago, he began shaping balloons and spinning cotton candy at Gatti’s Pizza in Crowley.
Hessler has performed around Louisiana. Now that he has retired from the fire department, Hessler hopes to bring his act to more of the South.
“Oh, I love it. I love every minute of it. It just feels like I’m just getting started.”
“And now,” Hessler said, addressing his audience, I get to entertain guys like you. And it’s so much fun, you wouldn’t believe. Balloons and magic and traveling — it’s just a good life.”
Hessler’s enthusiasm was contagious. He engaged his audience from the start: “Who wants to come up to the stage to help me sometimes?”
Sitting Indian style or standing on their knees, children waved their hands high, bobbing up and down for attention: “Me!”
Hessler turned on his “groovy music,” a soundtrack with a quick tempo. He posed as if he were about to jog in place until, smirking, he said, “Michael Jackson, I’m not. I can’t do that anymore.”
Hessler twisted two balloons into a flower and, laughing, balanced its stem on his nose. The audience laughed with him.
“He’s funny,” one girl said, giggling.
Hessler handed one child a balloon: “Can you hold that for me, please?” Within seconds of the child reaching for it, the balloon spit out its air. The children roared in laughter at the high-pitched, squeal-like sound of the air squirting out.
Another balloon inflated, slapping Hessler’s hand. “Ouch!” Children cackled.
Hessler began bending balloons as children guessed their shapes: “Sword!” “Basketball goal!” “Duck!” “Swan!”
The performance then turned to magic tricks. Hessler placed tin cans over a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. When he lifted the cans, the peanut butter and jelly somehow switched places. Some children gasped; they all clapped.
For his final crowd-pleasing trick, Hessler turned a stuffed white rabbit into a living one.
Edison Alfred said his favorite part of the Ballooney Man’s performance was “when he turned the bunny into a real one. I never seen that before.”
Aria Alfred said she liked the rabbit best, too.
Nara Frey agreed, “I liked it when he turned the puppet into a real rabbit.”
“My favorite part was the part whenever the balloon popped and shocked the guy,” Ayla Frey said.
Holding a purple dog balloon, Allie LeJeune said, “I liked the little bird.”
The performance was one of the last events held at the library this summer.
Bobbie Bordelon, who organizes library events such as StoryTime, said the library’s summer program was successful. “The children enjoyed it. We had good turnouts. Parents participated really well; they gave donations, and it was really good all the way around,” she said.
“I like coming to the library because I like reading,” Nara Frey said.
“I like coming to the library even though I don’t even know how to read,” Ayla Frey said. “And I like to look at pictures.”
When asked what she likes best about visiting the library, Aria Alfred smiled and said, “I like everything.”
On Wednesday, the library will host an end-of-summer closing ceremony with prizes, including a bike giveaway.
