Lake in the Hills home festooned with balloons for the Fourth

Justyna Conkle of Lake in the Hills went big for the Fourth of July.

Her home has been decorated with balloons and USA letters, among other things, for Independence Day.

Conkle worked with fellow balloon decorator Ewelina Malarcik to set up the display along Noelle Bend and said it went up the night of July 3.

Malarcik started doing balloons decorations two years ago and owns a business, Bash Box Events. Conkle owns a balloon display company, JG Creations, that decorates for events.

Malarcik said she and Conkle met at a balloon class earlier this year and they decided to “do something fun and crazy for the Fourth! We wanted the community to come out and enjoy balloons as much as we do!”

Malarcik said it took about five hours to blow up the balloons and six hours to put the display together.

She added there had been a lot of requests for Halloween and there are plans for something “bigger and better” at that time. There were plans for a Halloween display last year, but the display wouldn’t stay up because of wind and cold, Conkle said.

While this was her first July 4 setup, it’s not the first time she has made large balloon set ups. She said she worked with other balloon artists on a display in West Chicago a few weeks ago.

The July 4 display has a big USA sign that lights up, and there were plans for a small fireworks show Friday evening, Conkle said.

There was also music playing throughout the day Friday. For now, the USA sign is the only thing that lights up on the display.

The decorations have garnered lots of traffic, Conkle said.

“People are loving it. No one has ever done this before and people are super excited,” she said.

Malarcik said she couldn’t have asked for a better turnout.

“So many people came and made all of the work we put in worth it,” she said.

While Mother Nature may have hampered Halloween plans last year, Conkle said she had to wait out the rain that came through the area Friday morning, though the display stayed intact during the storms.

Conkle said she would try to keep the display up through Saturday but it would have to be down by Monday.

“We just want to share this with the community,” Conkle said.