The Party's Over

The party supply store known as "It's A Party +" was a fixture in Lakewood for a number of years. Now all that's left at 14526 Detroit Avenue are fixtures.

The store fell victim to the nationwide shortage of helium, which is used to fill the balloons that are a staple of so many parties.

The current shortage is the fourth since the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 resulted in the phasing out of the National Helium Reserve.

Helium is also used for medical purposes, tech products, and weather forecasting, so party balloons are a low priority.

There was no going-out-of-business sale. Everything was donated, mostly to churches, which are now floating ideas about what to do with all those empty balloons.

Jeff Fritz

Enjoy exercise, politics, economics, writing jokes and songs, reading non-fiction.

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Volume 18, Issue 14, Posted 7:00 PM, 07.20.2022