By Delayna Earley
The Island News
The City of Beaufort has enacted a ban on the release of balloons filled with helium into the air – a first for the state.
Beaufort’s City Council members passed the ordinance unanimously during their Dec. 9 meeting on its second reading and this extends an existing ordinance banning the release of balloons from city-owned property.
Jenn Clementoni, executive director of the Carolina Bight Birding Center, was a large proponent of the ordinance, said that releasing balloons is dangerous to domestic and wild animals and pollutes our water, marshes and shorelines.
She said that the balloons are not biodegradable and they do not just go away.
The ordinance was introduced in November with language modeled after the bill proposing a statewide ban, H-3047, that was introduced in January 2025 in the statehouse but has not yet made it out of the House.
City Councilman Josh Scallate said before council voted that the city’s ban will hopefully just be the first and actions have already been taken to try and encourage Beaufort County and other municipalities in the region to adopt similar ordinances.
He stated that a formal presentation about the ban is expected to be made during the Southern Lowcountry Regional Board’s Jan. 27, 2026, meeting in hopes of getting more ordinances passed to show support for a statewide ban.
Violation of the ordinance is a misdemeanor offense and is punishable by a fine.
The ordinance does allow for balloons released indoors, hot air balloons that are recovered after launching and balloons released by governmental agencies intended for meteorological studies and research.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
