Best of Cleveland 2016: Balloon Caricatures

We were so blown away by the Cavs championship that we’re still celebrating four months later. To commemorate the crowning achievement, Exclusive Balloons in Sheffield Lake pumped up a winning lineup of hoop stars with the help of fellow balloon vendors Cleveland Magic and Balloons and Balloon Bender Dave. The three companies spent 30 hours twisting and shaping more than 160 balloons to create life-size balloon caricatures of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert and Kevin Love. The wine and gold’s recognizable Big 3 — “LeBron was a given,” says Exclusive Balloons owner Sheila Kepic — got an assist from Shump because ... well, no true artist could resist that ‘do and beard. As for players who didn’t make the cut? “If we were to do J.R. Smith, we would’ve had to do the tattoos,” she says. “That’s a little difficult.” 4114 E. Lake Road, Sheffield Lake, 440-654-6342, exclusiveballoons.com