Mickey Mouse display earns Canadian balloon twisting team 5 world awards
Team earned bronze in the large sculpture category
A Romeo and Juliet display depicting Mickey and Minnie Mouse created out of thousands of balloons earned the Canadian balloon twisting team five technical difficulty awards at the World Balloon Convention in California.
The team used 21,500 balloons and the build took 27 hours.
Canada's Twisted Team — which is made up of people from Edmonton, Montreal, Kitchener, Ont.; Richmond Hill, Ont.; Surrey, B.C.; and Burnaby, B.C. — earned a bronze in the large sculpture category.
Derek Wong of Richmond Hill was recognized for three pieces he did in separate categories. He received silver for a hat, a 12-minute figure and bronze for a costume.
Kristal Yee of Surrey received silver for a costume she created.
The competition was held in San Diego March 14 to 17.
Drew Ripley of Kitchener heads up the team, which is the first internationally competitive balloon twisting team in Canada. He said despite not making the podium for overall team category, his team was "absolutely thrilled" with their results.