The German Cultural Garden is one of about 30 Gardens along East Blvd and MLK. The first Garden was the Shakespeare Garden, later renamed the British Garden, which was started in 1916 making 2015 the 99th year of the Gardens. The Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation has all kinds of great things planned for the Cultural Garden's Centennial Year which will officially kick off at the 70th annual One World Day on August 23, 2015.
But 99 is not a number to be ignored. When we thought of the number 99 there were only a few choices: 99 bottles of beer on the wall, the number of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, that's also the number that Charlie Sheen wore as a Cleveland Indian in the movie Major League. Agent 99 was on the TV show Get Smart and younger people may know rapper Jay-Z's song '99 problems'.
But what stood out for us was the 1983 German pop song 99 luftballons or 99 red balloons by a band called Nena. So to celebrate the 99th year of the Cultural Gardens we decided to have an event in the German Garden with 99 red balloons.
During the short program and performance by the Cleveland Donauschwäbische Blaskapelle, the 99 red balloons (courtesy of Pink Gorilla Balloons) were kept secure behind the huge statue of Goethe and Schiller.
 99 red balloons behind Goethe-Schiller statue
Here is the video as people gathered with 99 red balloons and posed in front of the huge Goethe-Schiller statue as the Cleveland Donauschwasbe Blaskapelle played the 1983 German pop hit 99 Luftballons (99 red balloons) by Nena.Originally the plan was to release the balloons like in the song but we decided that any potential threat to wildlife or nature was not worth the brief photo opp. So people took their balloons home as a souvenir. Happy 99th Cleveland Cultural Gardens! Enjoy these other images from the event.
Yin Tang about to fly away
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Singing 99 Red Balloons
Here is another angle of the song in a video shot by Paula Tilisky.
Please join us for more fun at the 70th annual One World Day on August 23, 2015 and learn more about the Cleveland Cultural Gardens.
Main 99 Red Balloons Ceremony Page
Photos and Videos of Cleveland Donauschwasbe Blaskapelle at the event
Photos and Videos of the 99 Red Balloons Song (this page)
People at the 99 Red Balloons in the German Cultural Garden event
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