Balloons from Robbie Firman's class and his tak weave heart;

This is Luca, Willie Monroe's little boy who had a great time throwing this sculpture about, the bubble balloon had helium inside and so it just floated and Luca was throwing it around and even got it stuck up in a tree. He was laughing away and it was a joy to see him having so much fun with, this is what balloons are about!!

more;

more;

I thought I only had the competition pictures to resize but I've just found another folder with a few more pictures in;

Ralph has posted an email on balloonHQ and he has kindly let us post it onto the forum;

I just got back home from attending The Millennium Jam (TMJ) convention in
Belgium.  I want to thank Leo Verlinden, Johan and the IBS staff for all of
their hard work for putting on a SUPER balloon event.  I'm not sure of the
final head count but I'm guessing that it may have been as high as 450 including
staff.  Probably Leo will be posting the actual final count once the dust
settles.  I think that the twisting and decorating skills represented there
were at the highest level.  The classes offered were plentiful and wonderful.
The balloon stage shows that I saw there were fantastic.  The attitude of
sharing ideas and helping each other improve their skills was evident everywhere.
The list of attendees was a who's who list from the balloon world.  The level of
the balloon competition was phenomenal!  As you can tell I'm still pumped by
having attended.  I got a chance to visit with Ted and Betty Vlamis from Pioneer
Balloons.  I got a chance to meet Jack Lever of the Balloon Express Co. in
Italy.  He has 42 stores in Italy and brought 40 of his employees to TMJ.
Leo of IBS gave an award for a lifetime of achievement in balloons.  I had the
honor of presenting that award to Patrick Brown.  Patrick was one of the 12
invited to participate in my Twister Think Tank at TMJ.  The balloon ideas that were
produced at the Twister Think Tank were awesome!  The TMJ jam room was
wonderful and full of balloon "eye candy".  In fact, I discovered lots of new balloon
ideas in the jam room just by stepping over "balloon cadavers" on the
floor.  Once I get my sleep cycle back in order, I'll have a lot of new ideas to
tinker with and develop.  I'll have more to share about the convention later, but
all that I can say is if you weren't at TMJ, "Man, you missed a great balloon
event!"
Dewey
:
  Ralph Dewey, Balloon Historian
DEWEY'S GOOD NEWS BALLOONS
1202 Wildwood Drive
Deer Park, Texas 77536
(281) 479-2759 Phone
(281) 476-9997 Fax
http://www.flash.net/~balloonz

After the gala show the party began with Thelma under the table skyping her husband with the news of her winning the award.
The last picture is of Thelma being ascorted to the Eurostar as while she was celebrating she fell of a 3ft balloon that burst under neath her while she was bouncing around the
room and she has damaged both her knees and could barely walk. It was a challenge getting her home from the event but we managed it with the help of everyone in the group.

Some more prize winners;

These are Thelma picking up her award from Ralph Dewey for "International Twister of The Year 2009"
Well deserved and a very popular choice from the thunderous round of applause and standing ovation.
Roger did video the presentation and we are hoping to get this onto youtube, fingers crossed.

Last couple from the gala show acts;

more;

The elephant from the French act was excellent but the picture I have is not the best, perhaps someone else has a better one?

Tom & Manon who held the show together and it was an excellent show.

Some of the acts from the gala show, the French act was well built and fun;

Just did a search for Sally Rand burlesque and found this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDumyj5V ... re=related

Our lucky table, we had eight people sitting here and seven won awards on the night;