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Eccentric balloon mementos, including paintings and pictures of family, cover the walls of her workspace. Her camera roll consists of blown-up figurines, everything from a life-sized Jessie from the movie “Toy Story” to Coca-Cola bottles pouring out the famous caffeinated beverage.

Sporting a vibrant balloon tattoo on her calf, close friends, family and clients know Luanne Richards as “the balloon lady.”

“I’m not a tattoo person, but I said I can’t leave this Earth without getting tattooed by my son,” Luanne said.

Mickey’s Balloons, Luanne’s balloon company, has been working with SU since 2000. Their partnership began with Luanne providing the bookstore with wholesale mylar and latex balloons. Luanne has created balloon displays for various buildings and organizations on campus, such as University Union and the Goldstein Student Center.

“There’s a balloon for every occasion, whether it’s a birthright down to a death,” Luanne said. “We’re just there to help the people fulfill their dream.”

Luanne’s parents started their wholesale balloon business — named after her father’s nickname — in 1983. When Luanne took over the business from her parents around 2010, she started creating decorative displays with balloons, unlike the packs of balloons her parents sold.

Luanne adds special touches of greenery in her balloon displays and stuffs colored balloons within each other to adjust the color and hue to her clients’ liking. She uses the high-quality latex or mylar balloons that she obtains from wholesalers.

Mickey Balloon’s displays take many forms — from expansive arches to life-sized balloon figures of “Beauty and the Beast” to a seven-foot orange.

Courtesy of Luanne Richards

Luanne Richards, owner of Mickey’s Balloons, fills Syracuse University on campus buildings with her whimsical balloon structures. One of her well-known structures includes a giant balloon orange.

One of Luanne’s customers contacted her to order life-sized balloons of the bride and groom for her son’s wedding. Now, for every wedding the customer is invited to, she orders customized balloon figurines from Mickey’s as a gift to the couples. This was one of the first life-size human sculptures Mickey’s Balloons ever did, Luanne said.

Luanne created life-size Otto the Oranges for commencement week at the former Sheraton Hotel, now Orange Hall. Since the dormitory transformation, she has retired Otto. But Mickey’s Balloons remains the only balloon company in Syracuse that made a life-size Otto.

Luanne drives her van with the colorful “Mickey’s Balloons” logo through Syracuse University and across town when making deliveries. She is known by the SU community for her balloon Ottos and Syracuse blue-and-orange arches. Her balloons welcome students to campus at SU’s Schine Student Center, Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Luanne adds her own flair to the clients’ balloon requests, personalizing Otto each year.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Luanne closed her storefront and her husband and handyman, Scott Richards, revamped their basement into a colorful balloon studio, filled with every kind of balloon and streamer. Since then, Luanne has continued working from home because she said she loves being on her own schedule.

“I’ve never had to work for anybody before; I’ve always been my own boss,” Luanne said.

Popular in the Syracuse area, Luanne is booked every weekend until December of this year. With the support of her family and friends, she sometimes caters to eight or nine different events in a weekend.

Luanne’s son, 28-year-old tattoo artist Noel Richards, worked with her for several years before the pandemic, using his artistic ability to draw different characters on balloon creations. Noel said he’s proud to have watched the family business grow and evolve into what it is today.

“She’s always gonna be the balloon lady,” Noel said. “It’s her whole life, she put everything into it.”

The work Luanne puts into her business attracts onlookers across SU’s campus. Luanne recalled moments on campus when passersby approached her branded van with smiles and waves. They told her and her husband they had “the happiest job ever.” Luanne said bringing joy to someone’s day is the purpose of her brand.

“A lot of people are awe-inspired when they see things like (the balloon displays), and that makes us feel good,” Scott said. “It’s seeing the expression in people’s faces, that’s where we feel appreciated.”

Cassandra Roshu | Digital Managing Editor

Scott and Luanne Richards (left to right) park their Mickey’s Balloons truck outside their Liverpool, NY, home. The company has been using the same truck for nine years.

While Luanne receives the majority of business from big accounts like SU and corporate companies, such as Amazon and Coca-Cola, her favorite events to cater are families prepping for birthdays and baby showers.

Despite sickness or the occasional injury, Luanne has never missed a job, even if it means her role consists of standing on the sidelines and directing where the balloons need to go on the display.

One morning, when Luanne was setting up a balloon display at SU, she found out her mother died of cancer. Luanne said she faced a difficult choice that morning. She had to choose between keeping the business alive or retiring it for good. She chose to continue her work at SU that day and the next, delivering balloons while grieving.

After her mother’s death, Luanne said she found it difficult to continue working and considered passing the business along. But her creative freedom and love for balloons pushed her to keep going.

“I hate to give it up, one of these days I’m going to hopefully pass it on to a younger person that really wants to make their life like I have,” Luanne said. “I’m not ready right now.”

For Luanne, balloons tell a story that other celebrative decor, such as flowers and paper products, can’t quite share.

When one of her long-time clients, Carrie Clark, died of cancer, she delivered her husband, Rick Clark, a balloon display from the movie “Up,” something Carrie requested in the weeks before her death. Luanne spent six hours drawing and crafting a balloon version of the house from “Up.” She delivered the balloon creation to Rick the day after she died.

Experiences like these make Luanne want to hold Mickey’s Balloons close to her heart for as long as she can before she decides to retire.

“There wasn’t a dry eye in that house. That was everything to him at that moment, and it was everything to her daughters too,” Luanne said. “This one was a really tough one for me.”

Published on October 10, 2024 at 1:50 am