A total of 3,000 giant beach ball-like orbs painted in bright, fluorescent colors are filling up a lake in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles as part of a large-scale public art installation.
Volunteers spent the weekend launching the thousands of colorful floating balls into the 8-acre lake led by Portrait of Hope brothers Ed and Bernie Massey, according to the Associated Press.
Mayor Eric Garcetti was also on hand for the momentous occasion. The balloons were hand-painted by 10,000 volunteers who are from the Los Angeles area, most of whom were school children.
"This project involves everything that's good about Los Angeles. Great weather, open space, creativity and social conscience," said Garcetti.
Garcetti also said that the purpose of the launching of these colorful balls into the water is to put the citizens' attention on the city's most important cultural monuments.
"These days, unless you're from the vicinity, chances are you don't come to MacArthur Park. But this was a destination once," added Ed Massey, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Portrait of Hope was "developed initially for seriously ill and physically disabled children" but is now a program that "conceives and develops one-of-a-kind motivational art projects that merge the production of dynamic public art works with creative therapy for hospitalized children and civic education for students of all ages," according to its official website.
