“Cy in the Sky” has landed and is looking for a good place to sleep.
Owned by Bill and Toni Woodman of Ames, they believe it is the only Iowa State University themed hot air balloon.
At 22 meters high, they say it is also the largest balloon with a fabric cartoon character sewn directly onto the balloon’s fabric instead of painted.
“Cy in the Sky” was a familiar sight to Ames residents and Iowa State fans, especially football fans, as it flew over the stadium on game days from 1985 to 2000, when both the balloon and the Woodmans retired from the pastime.
Now the Woodmans are looking for a new home for their beloved balloon, which has brought them so many priceless experiences and brought smiles to the faces of countless Cyclone fans and balloon enthusiasts.
But they are having trouble finding a taker.
“We have approached the university administration to facilitate a donation without success,” said Bill Woodman. “We contacted the Iowa Balloon Museum in Indianola and were told they had no space to display it and a similar response came from the State Historical Museum in Des Moines.”
Other entities that approached the Woodmans included the ISU Museum and the Anderson-Abruzzo International Balloon Museum in Albuquerque.
So far, they haven’t found a permanent home for Cy.
Cy’s colors are still as vibrant as they were almost four decades ago
“The fact is, as we approach age 80, it becomes more important than ever to find Cy a home,” Bill said. “All the artwork is fabric sewn onto fabric, so the colors are as vibrant today as they were 39 years ago.”
Cy has been indoors all his life. Currently, the balloon is in a bag in a corner of the Woodmans’ living room.
“At some point it needs to be in a permanent home and, better yet, seen by the public,” Bill said.
The Woodmans suggest that Cy could be set up in an atrium, attached to a ceiling beam, and cold-inflated with a simple cold-air blower with the basket attached, as a nice tourist attraction.
“The copy of the first hot air balloon, the Montgolfier, is displayed this way at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington,” Bill said. “We would hope that any new construction on campus or among the new CYTown structures near the stadium would have such an atrium that would face east or north,” since UV light kills balloon dust.
Phil Gray of Indianola, whose company made two of the Woodmans balloons, built the Montgolfier balloon for the Air and Space Museum and turned it into a permanent exhibit, as Bill Woodman described. Gray has always wanted to see Cy permanently displayed and preserved and would likely be interested in helping with such a project, Bill Woodman said.
“A permanent place to display this beautiful work of art from Iowa would be ideal,” he said.
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How Cy in the Sky got off the ground
Longtime Ames residents, the Woodmans are avid Cyclone fans and have a love for the community.
Bill began working in the sociology department at Iowa State in 1973 and retired as a college professor in 2010. Toni taught French, Spanish and English at Ames High School and retired in 2002.
They stopped ballooning in 2010, but otherwise they are busier in retirement than before. At age 70, they earned their diving certification, and on a recent visit to their home, their diving equipment was laid out in their living room across from the Cy balloon bag.
“Ours is an unconventional living room,” Bill said.
The room also features a small performance area where the Woodmans play music together.
They also travel a lot in their luxurious 12 meter long recreational bus.
Bill and Toni and their two children became involved in ballooning for fun and competition. They have also grown commercially by selling rides.
In the mid-1980s, balloonists told the couple to consider an Iowa State-themed balloon. They created a dozen designs and consulted with Gray, owner of National Ballooning, Ltd., then in Indianola, now in Patterson.
The final design was a smiling Cy leaning on the balloon, an image of Cy originally leaning on CyRide boards. They added the script of the Iowa State logo, along with the iconic cyclone leading to the mouth of the balloon.
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“Before you knew it we were flying over football games, RAGBRAI, VEISHEA, Farm Progress Show, Iowa State Fair and tethering Special Olympics, basketball games and Cyclone Club events all over the state,” Bill said. “We also flew over some away games, especially in Iowa City.”
When the Woodmans decided to stop Cy and themselves from flying, they sold their first balloon, named “Simple Gifts” after the Shaker anthem, and pondered what to do with Cy.
“Simple Gifts,” which the Woodmans also designed, was damaged by electrical lines shortly after its sale, and they decided they couldn’t risk that happening to Cy.
So the balloon is not for sale and the couple wants it to be used for display purposes only.
“One of the largest displays Toni and I ever saw was at the Grand Palais in Paris, where static, permanent balloon displays have been a feature since the early 20th century,” Bill said.
If such a grand plan doesn’t work out, permanent storage in a cool, dark place would allow “Cy in the Sky” to survive virtually forever, he said.
Ronna Faaborg covers business and arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rfaaborg@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Cyclone-themed hot air balloon ‘Cy in the Sky’ looking for a new home
