The celebration after Donald Trump accepts his party’s nomination for president at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18.
Photographer: M. Scott Brauer for Bloomberg Businessweek
Need 100,000 Balloons for a Convention? Here’s the Guy to Call
From Super Bowls to Olympic ceremonies to the Republican National Convention, Treb Heining is the man behind the big balloon release.
Treb Heining has been in charge of the balloon drop at every Republican National Convention of the past three decades, as well as many of the Democratic conventions during that time. He started as a balloon salesman at Disneyland when he was 15 in his native Anaheim, California, and now, as chief executive officer of GlassHouse Balloon Co., Heining supplies them to many Disney properties around the world. He’s designed balloon releases for Super Bowls and Olympic opening ceremonies, and he drops confetti in New York’s Times Square every New Year’s Eve.
Bloomberg Businessweek went behind the scenes with Heining in Milwaukee at the RNC in July, when Donald Trump accepted the party’s nomination for president, to see how the balloon man does his thing.