Ga. Kids' Balloon Bundle Floats To Sebring

On the 100th day of school two weeks ago, kindergarten students in Shellman, Ga., released 10 bundles of 10 helium filled balloons.

Patty Lloyd and her boyfriend, Ron, found one those colorful balloon bundles Sunday afternoon near Sebring while they were on an ATV trail.

After Lloyd photographed a woodpecker in a tree, she looked around to find her boyfriend, who had discovered in a bush a bundle of red, yellow, blue and green balloons tied together with thin red ribbon.

A typed note with the balloons included a name and phone number from the Randolph Southern School in Shellman, Ga.

Lloyd phoned the school's principal Monday morning to inform her about the balloon find.

Principal Eva Rigsby told Highlands Today Monday that the balloon release is an annual event at the private K-12 school.

Shellman, with a population of 1,100, is located in southwest Georgia in Randolph County and is about 40 miles northwest of Albany, Ga.

The school usually hears from one or two people each year who find the balloons, Rigsby said.

"We've had some over from east Georgia; it's according to how the wind is blowing," she said.

One other balloon was found and reported from this year's release. It ended up in north Florida in Suwannee County between Branford and O'Brien.

Orlando was the most distant location the school has received a call about a balloon in past years, so Rigsby acknowledged that the school has a new distance record with the balloon bundle that landed in Sebring.

The shortest driving distance between Sebring and Shellman is 384 miles.

Randolph County's economy is primarily farming based.

"Mostly peanuts, cotton and corn are the big main crops and there's also a lot of wheat," Rigsby said.