Central Penn Business Journal:
Balloons are everywhere.
Flower balloons, heart-shaped balloons for Valentine’s Day, balloons with maps of the world on them all float around Dave Truitt’s one-window office in Mechanicsburg Brethren in Christ Church.
Truitt is the youth pastor there. He uses balloons to help teach the Bible’s lessons to young children and — from time to time — to adults too.
“The church has definitely received it warmly,” he said. “I’ve used balloons to teach sermons. It’s gotten to the point where people always ask, ‘Are you going to use balloons today?’ And sometimes they’re disappointed.”
Truitt is also the chief creative officer of his balloon business, Top Nozzle Entertainment.
He specializes in advanced balloon creations, such as twisting 5-foot, hot-dog-shaped balloons into a skiing Goofy, a water-walking Jesus or a 7-foot-tall balloon costume of the Bible’s Goliath as a Halloween outfit for his son.
Truitt is one of hundreds of performers in Central Pennsylvania who supplement their daytime jobs by entertaining others at events such as carnivals, corporate meetings and business openings.
“This is their passion. Very few of them do it full-time,” said Lisa Stokes, president of BRP Entertainment Inc., a brokerage that supplies entertainment for events such as weddings and meetings.
BRP of Lower Allen Township, Cumberland County, has between 800 and 1,000 local performers in its database, including strolling performers, comedians, bands, individual musicians and jugglers, Stokes said.
Most performers have regular jobs as teachers, businesspeople and mail carriers, but for whatever reason, they fell in love with a specific hobby, Stokes said. Some people play the acoustic guitar for bar patrons. Others are disc jockeys for weddings. Still others entertain children with balloon monkeys, caricatures and the occasional flea circus.
Photo by Amy Spangler.
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