Massive red bouncy ball gets loose in downtown Toledo

A giant inflatable red ball weighing 250 pounds terrorized downtown Toledo Wednesday, rolling over cars and generally constituting what locals agreed was likely the most interesting thing to happen in Toledo in a while.

“It started pouring rain, so the ball was wet and slippery”, Garrow told ABC News.

In an interview posted on Periscope, the ball’s creator Kurt Perschke said “a wind tunnel came from behind, popped it out, and it took off on a little jog down the road”. You can see in the video that’s going viral that it rolled about halfway down a block and then mysteriously took a left-hand turn.

It’s been an object of contemplation for art lovers from Sydney to London, but strong winds broke it loose from its anchor point outside a jewellery store on one of Toledo’s main streets.

The ball rolls over a auto before coming to halt, allowing the pair to secure it.

Toledo Museum of Art spokeswoman Kelly Garrow said the ball was damaged in the incident and had to be patched in several places.

The ball was eventually corralled and returned to the museum where it can be viewed through the weekend.

“The ball is actually made of the same material as a rubber life raft, so luckily, it was fairly easy to patch”, Garrow said.

The project is part of the museum’s exhibition “Play Time”, organized by Halona Norton-Westbrook, the museum’s associate curator of contemporary art, along with associate director Amy Gilman. “Through the magnetic, playful, and charismatic nature of the RedBall the work is able to access the imagination embedded in all of us”.

“The Red Ball Project” travels around the world to create awareness of architecture and creativity. It’s a huge soft ball that doesn’t crush things.

“Like a boat with lots of sail and no rudder, it can really move in high winds”, Perschke said.