The Orange County Great Park Balloon will get a pandemic friendly upgrade thanks to the Irvine-based FivePoint Holdings. 

The Great Park Balloon, one of Orange County’s most well-known attractions, will now serve as a reminder to residents of the importance of slowing the spread of COVID-19 in Irvine. 

In order to do so, the Great Park, along with city of Irvine and FivePoint Holdings, which sponsors the Great Park Balloon, will transform this iconic fixture into a giant emoji wearing sunglasses and a face mask.

Even though the Great Park Balloon is closed to the public, FivePoint hopes this initiative will serve as a metaphor – the face mask-sporting emoji will also be socially distancing from the skies. 

“The emoji serves as a friendly reminder to wear facial coverings as a first line of defense toward protecting our own personal health and safety and others,” said Lynn Jochim, Chief Operating Officer at FivePoint. 

Throughout the statewide lockdown, FivePoint has remained dedicated to delivering much-needed PPE to first responders and essential workers in Irvine and beyond.  

FivePoint was among the first companies locally to pivot and acquire more than 100,000 face masks for health care workers, law enforcement personnel and others.

Then, on July 27, the city of Irvine and FivePoint issued a joint news release detailing a new donation of 1 million face masks that will be provided to health care workers, law enforcement personnel and distributed throughout the community to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The balloon will fly weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. It will also fly Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., weather permitting.

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