OMEGAball Rolls Through Spring Valley, Minnesota
October 5, 2004
by Jerry Cleveland
Editor's note: Jerry Cleveland has been involved in the construction of Monolithic Domes for many years. He talks to anybody and everybody about Monolithic Domes. He has spent many hours educating others about Monolithic Dome advantages. Jerry was also instrumental in the construction of Grand Meadow School District's new Monolithic Dome school in Grand Meadow, Minnesota.
Recently, Jerry acquired a 10-foot OMEGAball. He entered the ball in WilderFest parade and held an OMEGAball tournament at the the annual WilderFest Celebration in Spring Valley, Minnesota to raise money for the Jamie South Liver Foundation. Over $1000 dollars was raised and lots of fun had in the process. We appreciate the time, effort, energy and money that has been donated in Jamie's behalf.
Jerry's Story
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I received the OMEGAball in early August and couldn't wait to try it out. My son, Ben and I inflated it and took it down the local bike trail. We wandered downtown where Charlie, the city clerk and news editor, caught us going down the alley behind the news office. He just had to have a picture for the paper. Bank tellers, city employees and people just passing by were very curious. After some time, we had to stop by Spring Valley Automotive and borrow a vacuum cleaner to reinflate for the trip home.
A few days later, I got the idea to sell advertisements on the ball to raise money for Jamie South's liver transplant. I contacted Charlie and he was more than willing to place a picture of OMEGAball in the local paper and suggested an OMEGAball game during the upcoming WilderFest. WilderFest is an annual attempt to lure tourists and residents to town for dancing, eating, fireworks and a parade.
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The parade interested me most. I figured that if I could get $50.00 per advertising banner, I could raise at least $1000 in donations for Jamie. I did some experimenting with painting the banners on the ball. In the meantime, I had Joe Siple, a local TV sports announcer put together a short piece of news on the ball to show on the evening news. As I went around and visited with many businesses in town to sell advertising on the OMEGAball, I learned a new appreciation for the support they give to our community. Everyone was kind and supportive. It didn't take long before I had all 20 advertisements/sponsors for the ball.
Rain, rain go away
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Some of the first banners I painted were still not dry. After supper time, it looked like rain so we stared deflating the OMEGAball. When we were about half done, it rained hard and washed most of the paint off.
After more experimenting with the paint over the next day, parade day finally arrived with a warm, sunny forecast. It was neither. It was too cold for the graphics to stick. We had to use a heat gun to heat up the ball as we applied vinyl material. We finished painting the ball about two hours before the parade. It was still raining.
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Just before the parade, it quit raining, but the streets were still wet. I was certain the paint job would wash off. Dave Vickmark to the rescue. He loaned us a small trailer and a trailer ball. We rolled the ball onto the trailer and my son Jon ran behind to keep the ball from rolling off the trailer.
We got to the parade just in time to find the valve had come open and we had to find some power and refill it. Hurry up and wait. Might as well be in the army. We waited so long that we had to find another place to air up before the parade began. It finally dried up enough that we could roll the ball down the street. So we ditched the truck and trailer and the fun began.
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We rolled the OMEGAball about a mile through Spring Valley. We rolled over some old friends and new friends too. We also ran over quite a bit of candy along the way. All in all it was great fun and a good workout.
Oh, the many uses!
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After the parade I parked the OMEGAball outside the fire hall while I went to get pie and ice cream. Before I returned, some children has commandeered it and were having a great time. I was asked if I would rent the ball and others suggesting using the ball at Ocotoberfest in the neighboring town. The physical education teacher wants to use it for class and someone else wants to take it in the homecoming parade. Wouldn't it be great to sell OMEGAballs to Coke, Pepsi, the electric companies, to use in parades and for safety promotion. The potential is there.
I appreciate the contributions received from those who gave so generously to the cause.
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