Behind Kamala Harris' DNC balloon drop was a tribute to a Chicago artist battling cancer

Treb Heining wanted to honor and help a friend struggling with cancer by doing a massive balloon drop.

It turned out to be the drop at the United Center after Kamala Harris accepted her nomination as the Democratic candidate for president at the DNC last week.

Heining is a titan of the balloon entertainment industry, playing a role in the opening ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He was the man in charge of the confetti drop at New York’s New Year’s Eve celebration for more than 30 years — in addition to doing balloon drops at 14 prior political conventions, including every RNC since 1988. His businesses now creates all the balloons for Disney and Universal theme parks worldwide.

He called this year's DNC balloon drop “probably the greatest” one ever done at a political convention.

Heining got the call for the DNC in July, later than he's used to, which threw off his usual preparations: Find a nearby high school music program; pay to bus and feed the kids to help inflate the balloons; and then present a check to the music program.

Having so little time to prepare, he wouldn't be able to arrange helpers and needed experts. He had also heard about Tommy DeLorenzo's continuing struggle with cancer. DeLorenzo, a Chicago area balloon artist, owns the firm Balloons by Tommy,

In less than a month, Heining and fellow balloon expert Joette Giardina started organizing everything, eventually putting together a team of 55 — five from Canada and the rest from all over the U.S.

Part of the money from the contract was donated to help with DeLorenzo's care, and half of the volunteers declined Heining's offer to pay for their travel and housing expenses for the trip. Instead, they added their stipend to the total going to DeLorenzo.

“We were just grasping at straws as to how to help Tommy,” Heining said. “I know the love for this man, but this was a lot of people coming from a lot of destinations. … Everybody else took and ran with it. It was one of the greatest things I’ve done in my 50 years of ballooning.”

DeLorenzo, 38, started in the industry at 14, but he officially launched Balloons by Tommy in 2000, working to bring entertainment across the Chicago area. His husband, Scott, joined him at Balloons by Tommy 11 years ago, and together they’ve worked to educate others in the business.

“I would see how prolific he was,” Heining said. “There were very few artists in the country doing what he was doing, it was like a mirror. … He gave back so much to the people in the balloon community.”

DeLorenzo was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2022 and has had to be away from the business — including for the DNC, when he was completing a round of chemotherapy and getting a bone marrow transplant.

Scott DeLorenzo said he and Tommy were grateful for the support they’ve received from others in the business as Tommy has been battling cancer.

“We are so fortunate to have an incredible support system and uplifting community,” Scott DeLorenzo said. “Everyone has given so much of themselves, and the balloon artists and the Balloons by Tommy team at the DNC really touched both our hearts.”

Jennifer Nyikos, owner of Fun By the Yard in South Bend, Indiana, was one of the volunteers working under the Balloons by Tommy name.

The team worked with 30 air compressors to inflate, tie and position the 100,000 balloons in under nine hours, an average of 200 balloons per minute. They were stationed high up in the United Center’s stands, dropping the balloons into bags that would be secured to the ceiling on the final day of the convention.

Finishing up quickly also meant most of the group had time to be inside an empty arena and visit DeLorenzo in the hospital. Heining said the preparations were emotional for everyone but that seeing DeLorenzo in such good spirits was inspiring, adding that he was a "fighter."

Nyikos said it was common for those in the industry to set aside competitiveness and band together for big jobs.

“We all come together like this quite often,” said Nyikos, who works many of the University of Notre Dame's events. “We’re very tight-knit.”

She said it was a “feather in their hats” to work on a big event, but the main focus was always honoring DeLorenzo.

“It was amazing, we were here before all the magic,” Nyikos said. But "it wasn’t about us. We did this all for him.”