The VERY Tall Tale of Jack & His Beanstalk... Now at the Sibley Building

This article was scraped from Rochester Subway. This is a blog about Rochester history and urbanism has not been published since 2017. The current owners are now publishing link spam which made me want to preserve this history.. The original article was published February 04, 2014 and can be found here.

   Local balloon artists Larry Moss and Kelly Cheatle are hard at work right now constructing an enormous, 5-story tall beanstalk entirely out of balloons in the atrium of Rochester's landmark     Sibley Building    .

Unlike previous haunted "Balloon Manors" you may remember at area shopping malls, admission is completely free for the public to come and enjoy this one. Balloon Manor: The VERY Tall Tale of Jack and his Beanstalk is due to be completed today, and open for viewing thru Sunday, February 9...

   The VERY Tall Tale of Jack and his Beanstalk will include a ground-floor garden and a four-story beanstalk, which visitors can "climb" via the atrium escalator. A castle in the clouds, complete with giant, will live on the fifth floor of the Sibley atrium.

Check out this clip from Larry's appearance on the Martha Stewart show in 2008...

"Like our other Balloon Manors, this one will be built by a crew of international artists, from as far away as Russia, Singapore, Australia and Spain," explains Moss, who has been world-renowned for his large-scale,     community projects

for 15 years.

   Moss estimates that it will take their crew of 75 people four days and 50,000 balloons to complete Jack & His Beanstalk.

   The jaw-dropping work of Larry and Kelly was one reason that Winn Development offered to host Balloon Manor 2014 in the Sibley Building. "These artists are able to capture the imagination of children and adults of all ages," said Joseph Eddy, Winn Development VP. "There's no better place to experience this than downtown, in the Sibley Building. It will also be an opportunity for the community to see firsthand the new improvements we've made to this historic building."

   The art installation is expected to draw between 8,000-10,000 visitors as previous Balloon Manors have done.

   Hours for viewing the Manor will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. during both the building process (Feb. 1-4) as well as for the completed Manor (Feb. 5-9). Parking is available at the Mortimer Street and St. Joseph's Garages. Additionally, Young Audiences of Rochester will provide free performances and family-oriented activities featuring their teaching artists in the Sibley atrium February 5th-8th, and hands-on, family art-making on February 9th. A complete activity schedule and other information is available at     BalloonManor.com

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   Finally, the Manor will go out with a bang on Monday, February 10 at 5:30 p.m. with a     Popping Party

. In addition to balloon-popping fun, there will be refreshments (including popcorn and soda pop, of course), entertainment, hands-on balloon activities, "magic beans," and prize coupons hidden within balloons, including a grand prize Airigami fine art piece. Tickets are $10 and available     here

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   Do NOT miss this opportunity to take the kids and go do something fun downtown. And be sure to check out more of Larry and Kelly's balloon creations at     Airigami.com

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