The Balunguy came about in 2001 by accident.  As a little boy growing up I never aspired to or even dreamed of becoming a balloon artist, it was a "twist" of fate.  Even growing up I never saw a balloon artist in person and only saw very few on the television.  In 2001 my wife and I were expecting a child in July, well God had other plans and we had a beautiful little girl delivered in April.  Yes she was a preemie, a micro preemie is what she was technically considered because she weighed only 1lb 13oz when she was born.  She was born at 26 weeks gestation which is about 3 months early.  She stayed in the hospital for 75 days which was a short stay for how early she was.  We were there for approximately a month and another family came into the NICU, they were transferred from another hospital, and we became friends with them.  The dad is a chiropractor by trade and one night on the way home my wife asked my if I knew what he did on the side.  Of course I said "no, I don't" and she said "he does balloons".  I needed some clarification so I asked "you mean like dogs and swords and stuff".  She confirmed my assumption and I thought it was silly sounding.  My wife told me not to laugh because it sounded like fun and that I might be able to earn some decent side money with it.  Well I just had to talk to him to see if my wife was pulling my leg.  Like most people, I thought balloon artists only made simple things like dogs or swords and talking with him I found out that's not true.  He started telling me some of the stuff he was making and I was instantly intrigued.  I asked him if he would teach me how to twist balloons and he agreed.  So, a few nights later we sat in the lobby of the hospital and in about 2 hours time he taught me the basics.  I bought a few books and practiced practiced practiced until I decided it was time to go public.  I first started twisting balloons at Chi Chi's for about 1.5 years until they closed up and now I currently twist balloons at Friendly's on Columbia Avenue in Lancaster on Mondays.  If you own/manage a restaurant and would like The Balunguy to entertain at your facility, drop me a line and we'll talk about the possibilities.