Business is blowing up for UAF's 'Balloon Guy'

October 14, 2016

Jeff Richardson
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Like other fisheries students, Benjamin Meyer has no trouble outlining the life cycle of a salmon. But unlike his peers, Meyer can do it using balloon animals.

At the mention of Alaska’s favorite anadromous fish, the 32-year-old University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student launches into a rapid-fire routine in his West Ridge office. He starts by inflating an “egg” — a round, red balloon the size of a softball — then assembles several balloons into a tadpole-like shape called an alevin. The process continues by using long, thin balloons to make a silver-colored adult salmon, followed by a red-and-green fish about to head upriver to spawn. As a bonus, each of his salmon creations can be worn as a festive hat.

It’s not a typical biology lesson, but it fits right in with Meyer’s double life. He’s studying for a master’s degree at the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. A few times a month he transitions into his side job as Ben the Balloon Guy, entertaining guests at parties or public events with a flurry of balloon-art creations.

His Balloon Guy outfit consists of green-and-yellow golf pants, suspenders and a T-shirt emblazoned with a balloon-animal dog. He said the persona has provided a welcome chance to express himself beyond his studies at UAF.

“I’m a pretty introverted person — I think that’s pretty typical of artists, they have a rich inner life,” he said. “It’s been interesting for me to use this tool to be able to meet people.”

Meyer began developing his balloon-art skills about three years ago after completing undergraduate degrees in biochemistry and biology at UAF. During a break before graduate school, he took a trip through South America that at times felt more self-indulgent than rewarding.



Most of the other young travelers he encountered didn’t have much money. He noticed that many of them worked to develop and practice a skill to earn enough to get by along the way. While Meyer was spending his savings, he’d see friends working for tips who’d stage fire-breathing shows or acrobatics performances on the street for onlookers.

“I felt like a spoiled rich kid,” he said. “I needed to come up with something to feel a little less entitled and give something back to all the places I visited.”

After picking up a bag of balloons at a store, Meyer found his unexpected talent. He learned how to make a few simple shapes, which was an easy way to connect with locals during his journeys.

In the years since then, Meyer has developed his skills by watching YouTube videos and spending countless hours practicing. He even went to a balloon-art convention in Rochester, New York, in 2014, where he discovered “a shocking amount of obscure information” about the hobby.

“It was like finding yourself among a strange tribe for a few days and trying to learn their ways and their language and their values,” he said.

Those lessons have fueled his work as Ben the Balloon Guy, entertaining guests at parties, weddings or other events. Meyer has all the work he wants, squeezing in a few gigs each month among his school obligations.

His creations include everything from a basic butterfly to a 6-foot-tall balloon Santa Claus he once built for a Christmas party. Meyer has even used balloons as an educational tool, making salmon life-cycle sculptures to entertain children at the Kenai River Festival in Soldotna last summer. The approach made his graduate field of study — juvenile salmon habitat and ecology amid climate change — a little more accessible to an unfamiliar audience.



His academic advisor, UAF Professor Mark Wipfli, said those demonstrations help get kids interested in fish and their habitat. They’ve also allowed him to get to know Meyer beyond the classroom.

“It’s nice when students have interests other than their studies,” Wipfli said. “It’s good to see that balance in their life.”

The balloon work is a departure for Meyer, who didn’t have any experience as a performer while growing up in Wasilla. The office he shares at UAF — a West Ridge trailer with faux-wood paneling and a variety of salmon posters — doesn’t usually hint at his hobby. The dry cabin he lives in a few miles from campus also looks pretty ordinary, Meyer said.

But he said Ben the Balloon Guy remains a welcome outlet as he enters the final year of his master’s degree program at UAF.

“Being involved with this stuff has been a really valuable way to see parts of the community I wouldn’t otherwise see,” he said. “It really gets me out of my bubble.”