Tribune/Debra Reid - Mimi and Jessy Cork visited the Energizer Bunny as the 166 foot tall hot air balloon towered over Sparks Middle School on Wednesday.
Tribune/Debra Reid - Energizer Bunny crew chief Kim Whiteman keeps an eye on the balloon's interior during inflation at Sparks Middle School early Wednesday.
The famous hot ‘hare’ balloon depicting the Energizer Bunny, the world’s tallest hot air balloon, makes a local stop in Reno among 20 cities Friday through Saturday and trumps all other balloons at a height of 166 feet, or 15 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.
The bunny has attracted the attention of crowds by his large dimensions. Its head is 30 feet by 45 feet long, with 32-foot-wide sunglasses, a drum with a 45-foot diameter and 20 feet wide, a tail of 20 feet and a shoe size of 98 EEEEE. The battery’s mascot weighs 1,170 pounds, the equivalent of 4,680 Energizer Max D cell batteries. That amount would power 2,340 flashlights nonstop for nine months.
The balloon has 93 deflation ports and is made of 5,000 linear yards of fabric. It takes 30 million BTUs (British thermal units), or the heat of 30 million birthday candles, to inflate.
While the hare has much to brag in its size, it has also had a productive career. The pink drummer first captured viewers’ attention with its debut in 1989 as it interrupted commercials and kept on going. Four years later, actor/comedian Rip Torn plotted to put an end to the Energizer Bunny, along with King Kong, the Wicked Witch of the West and a vampire.
It further survived Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, Boris and Natasha and Darth Vader.
In 2006, the Energizer Bunny Balloonicle debuted in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and earned a spot in the Energizer Keep Going Hall of Fame the following year, an accolade that honors those who have a spirit of persistence.
Last year, he began his birthday hoopla by recreating the first commercial and reappearing in the Macy’s parade.
The giant pink bunny requires a crew of 20 to ensure safe inflation, take-off and landing. Pilot Glo Kehoe, a seven-year veteran with the Energizer balloon, is a member of an exclusive corporate special shapes balloon team. She flies high in the balloon with crew chief Kimberly Whiteman. Together, the women are the only all-female corporate balloon team in the United States.
For a full preview of the 2009 Great Reno Balloon Race, see Friday’s issue of the Sparks Tribune.
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