Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407060021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Not that Francine Mitchell has a split personality, but her job can turn her into anything from a duck to a dinosaur, from a ``kissing bandit'' to Cupid.
Mitchell is the creator of Balloons Unlimited, a service that delivers colorful balloons to birthday parties, retirements, anniversaries, hospitals and elsewhere.
But the recipient does not get merely a handful of balloons. Mitchell delivers a lasting memory as well, usually with a rhyme and a song.
Disguised as Lucky the Duck, Mother Goose, Over-the-Hill Lil, Bad-Hair-Day Fay or a variety of other characters, Mitchell has developed skits to go with each one.
``Each character is its own. It's just like, when I have that costume on, that's who I am,'' she said. ``I think they're all fun. I don't know which one's the most fun.''
The performance can be for one person or many. ``I did one over at the hospital, and there were maybe 50 people in there,'' she said.
If an individual is involved, she tries to find out some things about the person that she can work into her routine.
She and her husband, David, moved here in 1989. He works at Galax Apparel. ``Too bad he doesn't make my costumes,'' she joked.
She has made all of them except Barney, the famous purple dinosaur, assembling bits and pieces of her outfits and headpieces as she goes along. ``I'm always thinking of new characters or new costumes to come up with,'' she said.
Both of their daughters, Brittany, 4, and Casey, were born in Pulaski. Mitchell was trying to find work of some kind where she could spend time with the children and not go broke with baby-sitting costs when she did have to go out.
She was talking to a long-time friend in Pennsylvania, Karen Force, who was trying the same kind of enterprise.
``You know, that sounds like something we need in Pulaski,'' Mitchell decided. ``Now we kind of work together and come up with new things.''
They also get volume discounts by ordering their balloons and other accessories together. And they have found they are in a growing field. They will join other practitioners in July at a national convention in Georgia.
Mitchell has been in costume since February. She has organized her balloons into different colors and sizes in a converted shoe organizer that hangs on the wall of her home and has one corner devoted to the costumes she has developed thus far.
All the costumes are definitely a draw for other children. ``All the kids like to come in here ... the neighborhood kids,'' she said.
The cost of a delivery depends on the character and type of activity and can range from $18 for a local delivery to $50 for a party .
``The weekends are my busiest time,'' she said. ``I've got bookings up into September for weekends.''
Many of her weekday jobs come from same-day calls, which she says she does not mind.
``I go in costume,'' she said, which attracts second glances from lots of people she drives by. ``They'd definitely double-look. And then they'd wave.''
One day she was wearing her Sunshine the Clown outfit in Marlis Rysel Flynn's shop, Upstairs/Downstairs, ``and a couple walked in, and they looked, and looked ... and I'm thinking: `Why are they looking at me?' ... I forgot I had this thing on. I get so used to wearing it.''
As long as she feels comfortable with herself, she said, it is a great way to brighten up someone's day.
by CNB