John Bennett, Balloon Art – General Meeting, February 4th, 2026

Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
February 4^th, 2026

Richard Johnson presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.

Richard Johnson led with the singing of America, the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Invocation: Richard Johnson, mentioning good weather, and the children.

Raffle: Maury Frey oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $10 and the big (Joker) pot was $166.
Dayton Bennett drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 153. Congratulations to the winner, Bob Knudson.
The deck of cards has 37/53 cards remaining. Bob Knudson drew the 7♦.

Richard Johnson thanks greeters April Wright and John Janes, rafflemaster Maury Frey, and server Bob Knudson.

Happy Box: Don Anderson announced he is happy because it is his 64^th wedding anniversary today.
Bob Knudson announced he is happy because he won the raffle, and is donating the proceeds to the Truck on Ice!
Luci Cramer announced she is happy because she and Carl are going to Minnesota to watch their 8yo grandson.

Tom Neumann announced that we have a guest today, Jean Boyle.

Jokes: Joker Bob Knudson had a good joke about hamburgers; and, never hiking alone in bear country. Always have someone you can trip and outrun.

Member Health: John Janes had a status update on Bruce Jorenby, who is rehabilitation in Edgerton due to complications.

Kiwanians Nikki Bennett (Feb5), Ray Szczepaniak (Feb6) and Bob Knudson (Feb13) have birthdays this month, and a song was sung.

Committee Reports: John Janes announced the Truck on Ice launch is today! It is shoveled and ready!

Nikki Bennett introduced the day’s speaker, John Bennett. John was born and raised in Afton. He holds a Culinary Arts degree, and was a chef at restaurants for over a decade. He then took up driving trucks, and drove one nearly 200’ long with cargo. John was accompanied by his son, Dayton. John and family own a crowd entertainment company that involves balloon art.

Balloons were handed out to all members.

John taught us various twists, including a barrel twist, petal twist and bubble twist.

Everyone in the room slowly followed along, twisting and folding as was demonstrated. We made a dog!

John later made a T-Rex, his favorite, out of two green balloons.

Dayton, John and Nikki’s son, owns the entertainment company. He briefly discussed and folded some of his favorites, including an octopus.
A popular balloon animal is the axolotl, which has a song associated with it.
John made a cat. Unlike the dog, cats require five bubble twists to begin. A tail kink is a nice extra touch.
Dayton’s company is named Dabadooya and Co., a result of Dayton’s initials DAB and a childhood saying.
Dayton started the company when he was 12 years old, 18 years ago. It included balloons and face painting, and has now implemented glitter (temporary) tattoos.
The company employs around 12 artists. Standard clients are corporate events, which entail thousands of people.
At events, John is “line entertainment.” He keeps the children happy while they await a personal creation.

Nikki Bennett thanked John Bennett for speaking and presented him with a Kiwanis yellow tumbler.

Richard Johnson adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 10:56AM.

Reminders: There is a Programs Committee meeting next week.

On this day:
1600 Astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler meet for the first time near Prague
1784 First unmanned balloon flight in Ireland
1789 First US Electoral College chooses George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President
1847 1st US telegraph company established in Maryland
1849 University of Wisconsin begins in 1 room with 20 students
1887 Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation of railroads
1895 1st rolling lift bridge opens in Chicago
1908 Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma with the addition to the Union of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907
1913 Louis Perlman patents demountable auto tire-carrying wheel rim
1913 National Institute of Arts & Letters founded
1924 Jacob Tullin Thams of Norway wins ski jumping gold at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; in 1936 he earns a silver medal in sailing at Berlin Summer Games
1932 The United States hosted its first Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. Only 17 countries attended the games, and the organizers suffered huge financial losses.
1936 First radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E)
1937 Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is shown in theaters across the U.S.
1957 First electric portable typewriter goes on sale in Syracuse, New York
1961 Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure
1962 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital opens in Memphis, Tennessee; funding for the cancer fighting facility led by entertainer Danny Thomas
1964 FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City
1967 “Wild Thing” cover version by “Senator Bobby” hits #20 on the pop singles chart
1967 US launches Lunar Orbiter 3
1969 John Madden is named head coach of NFL’s Oakland Raiders
1971 The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock exchange, the second-largest in the world – behind the New York Stock Exchange – is founded in New York City
1973 Comic strip “Hagar The Horrible” by Dik Browne debuts
1974 Chimpanzee Nim Chimsky signs his 1st word, at 2½ months
1977 “Rumours” 11th studio album by Fleetwood Mac is released (Grammy Album of the Year)
1982 Paper airplane flies for then indoor record of 154.2 ft (47m) in Tacoma, Washington
1987 US President Reagan’s veto of Clean Water Act is overridden by Congress
1991 Alex Trebek becomes first person to host three American game shows at the same time (Jeopardy!, Classic Concentration, To Tell the Truth)
1991 US postage raises from 25 cents to 29 cents
1993 Russian space agency tests a 82-foot wide space mirror
1995 Archaeologist Kent R. Weeks crawls inside KV5, the tomb of the sons of Ramases II, to discover the largest tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings
2000 Simulation video game “The Sims” developed by Maxis released in North America
2004 Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room
National Create a Vacuum Day – A vacuum is an area of space devoid of matter where the gaseous pressure is lower than the atmospheric pressure, and today is dedicated to trying to make one. The word comes from the Latin word “vacuus,” meaning “empty.” In a perfect vacuum, there are no particles at all, but this is almost impossible to achieve in practice, and only a partial vacuum can be made. The closer a vacuum is to a perfect vacuum, the the lower the gas pressure will be, and the higher the “quality” the vacuum has. High quality vacuum chambers can be made, and are used in physics and engineering. Even higher-quality vacuums can be found in outer space.
National Signing Day has traditionally been the first day that a high school senior can sign a binding National Letter of Intent for a collegiate sport with a school that is a Division II member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States.