Champion balloon artist Kristal Yee has returned home to Surrey with awards from a big convention in Chicago.
She was Top Twister in two categories (Agility, Artistic) at the at the start of March, and placed in six different competitions at the balloon convention, which drew 223 delegates from around the world.
sa国际传媒淭his is the first year that they added Top Twister in the agility category, because normally itsa国际传媒檚 just the artistic category, and I managed to win both of them,sa国际传媒� Yee told the Now-Leader.
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Since 2011 Yee has attended the Twist & Shout convention, where competition categories include balloon dress and costumes, stage performance and timed/agility showdowns.
A Fleetwood-area resident, Yee runs a face-painting and balloon-art business on , and posts her creations on .
sa国际传媒淚 do a lot of birthday parties, and Isa国际传媒檝e got a bunch of corporate things coming up, like companies doing family fun days and holiday events, things like that,sa国际传媒� Yee explained. sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檝e got a golf course where Isa国际传媒檓 doing all of their brunches. During COVID I was doing a lot of balloon orders for people. Summer is always busy, and itsa国际传媒檚 getting busy in spring too. Isa国际传媒檓 never bored.sa国际传媒�
Six years ago, in 2018, . As a founding member of Canadasa国际传媒檚 Twisted Team, she earned awards at the World Balloon Convention in San Diego for a sa国际传媒淪orcerersa国际传媒檚 Serenadesa国际传媒� display, featuring likenesses of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. The fashion-focused Surreyite made Minniesa国际传媒檚 dress and Mickeysa国际传媒檚 robe.
In 2017 in China, she helped make a balloon sa国际传媒渮oosa国际传媒� that earned a Guinness World Records certificate as the largest such creation, 469,845 balloons in total.
to watch video of Yee in 2018.
Years earlier, after graduating from Enver Creek Secondary, Yee was an aspiring actor and part-time swim coach.
sa国际传媒淥ne day, I had no shows, and no coaching (jobs) either,sa国际传媒� Yee recalled in 2018, sa国际传媒渁nd an actor colleague of mine asked if I wanted a job working with kids. The event company he was working for was short-staffed that weekend, so I went and did my first terrible face-painting, and my first one-balloon dog, hoping the thing wasnsa国际传媒檛 going to pop.sa国际传媒�
Yee quickly realized she could use more than one balloon to create something pretty magical.
sa国际传媒淚t didnsa国际传媒檛 have to be just a one-balloon dog or sword, you could make things with multiple balloons, and that just kind of opened up this world for me,sa国际传媒� she said. sa国际传媒淎nd once I got into the convention world, not so long after that, it was like coming home, to find people who were just as crazy about what you love, as much as you are. Isa国际传媒檝e met some of my best friends through balloons.sa国际传媒�
