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Knowing people can also force
Smith to find a balance between
being recognized as the “balloon
guy” and doing his job as a news
photographer.
“
I’ll never forget the time that
someone came up to me and
started talking to me about their
balloon experience while I was
shooting a story,” said Smith. “I
take shooting news video pretty
seriously so I playfully told them
that I was Doug’s brother, Dave.
They hung around and contin-
ued to interrupt me so I had to
ask them to please let me work.
They weren’t sure if I was teas-
ing or not. I shot the video and
they came up afterwards and
teased me back, ‘Your brother is
so much nicer than you.’ We left
laughing all the way to the news
van.”
Smith will admit he has briefly
considered twisting balloons
full-time, but insists that it
wouldn’t be fun anymore if he
did. He would then be doing it
“
for the rent” and that is way too
much pressure. For now, balloon
creation restores and recharges
his soul after a day of shooting
news video that can be serious in
nature. He wants to leave it that
way.
This balloon guy’s ultimate
goal is as relevant today as it was
18
years ago — to bring happi-
ness and a smile to people of all
ages. And, there is always a guar-
antee that there will be a corny
joke for every balloon creation.
If you know Doug, or Dave, the
cornier, the better.
For more information on The Unique
Twist, go to
Peoria balloon artist Doug Smith regularly visits the Culver’s restaurant in Peoria on Kids Night every Tuesday.
