Weyburn brothers set to be included in Ripley’s Believe it or Not

It took a lot of work and hot air, but two Weyburn brothers have made their way into the next edition of Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

Richy and Preston Roy built a 13-foot-tall costume made entirely out of balloons. It looks just like a minion from the Despicable Me films.

The Roys created it for the Weyburn parade in 2018. It took two years for Ripley’s to get in touch with them.

Even with the wait, Richy is ecstatic.

“What could be more fun than being in Ripley’s Believe it or Not? That doesn’t happen every day,” he said with a laugh.

Engineering their creation was a massive feat.

“It is constructed completely out of latex. There are no internal supports, wire, rods or any other structures,” Richy explained. “We used balloon twists and balloon animals. We used 1,200 balloon animals.

“This project took us seven days of blowing up balloons non-stop.”

Building it was one thing, but making it work for the parade was another challenge.

“I would stand in one leg of the costume and my brother Preston would stand in the other,” Richy said. “Then we would walk forward alternating to make it look like it was actually walking down the street.”

As a full-time entertainer, Roy’s business has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of balloon art, he also DJs weddings and does magic tricks at parties. All of his events for this year have been cancelled.

The email showing up from Ripley’s was a welcome change of pace.

“To have a positive story come back, it sure helped out at a great time,” Richy said.

However, it’s not just Richy and Preston who are excited about this. The people of Weyburn are behind them all the way.

“People cheer whenever there is some kind of accomplishment coming from our town,” Richy said. “As far as I can remember, we haven’t had anyone from here be in Ripley’s Believe it or Not.”

The book is scheduled for release on Oct. 15, 2021.