On the defendant’s table at the Marion County Justice Court, a clerk assembled roses into a bouquet. Justice of the Peace Justin Kidd, balancing on an aluminum step ladder, took feedback from staff about where to hang the basketball-sized paper carnations across the judge’s bench.
A dozen couples had signed up to get married the next day, Valentine’s Day, with one ceremony every half-hour starting at 9 a.m.
Kidd works to make the day special for people who may not be able to afford to go all out on their big day. He provides a bowl of free rings to choose from, from simple bands to extravagant costume pieces, and his team got creative to make a loaner boutonniere with leftover supplies.
But it was the arrival of Meda Duggan, and the armfuls of pink, red, white and purple balloons in tow, that lit up the room. Two volunteers from Center 50+ helped her carry in two carefully arranged balloon columns for the sides of the altar.
A long purple balloon which wrapped around the pole at the center of a column had popped on the journey to the courthouse, as balloons are inclined to do. Duggan was prepared for that.
The volunteers stood, transfixed, as she remade it within a minute using an air pump pulled from her go bag and explaining the steps.
“She’s got humor, she has intelligence, she’s got it all,” Todd said, watching her expertly form the balloon into a spiral.
“Oh, I’ve got it all,” Duggan echoed, laughing.
She moved to Salem two years ago, and met Kidd at a Center 50+ event about the joys of learning new things after retirement. Seeing the balloons she brought as a demonstration, Kidd asked if she would be interested in decorating for the couples he’d be marrying on Valentine’s Day last year.
Kidd performs weddings in both English and Spanish, and enjoys it enough that he makes sure to clear his schedule for them on holidays. Last year, he wedded nine couples and began an annual tradition. The Oregonian quipped “Marion County? More like Marryin’ County.”
“I couldn’t say yes fast enough,” Duggan said of his initial request to help decorate. “He’s such a neat guy. Watching him do his weddings, and watching him with the words that he says and the fact that he’s bilingual. He’s amazing.”
She also made balloon zombies and flowers for last year’s Halloween nuptials. She said she’s not humble about how complicated some of the decorations she’d brought into the courtroom for this Valentine’s Day, which included intricate daisies.
She likes that it’s a rare talent, and it’s one that she’s been practicing for 40 years.
“I wanted my kids to have unique Valentines one year. So I got a book on how to do it, and it just started from there,” she said. “That connection is not lost on me, for this day.”
For years, Duggan worked at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing home north of Seattle. She said she gave 57 baths a week.
“I loved that job, because I never felt more needed in my life. And they loved balloons. That’s what really made me fall in love with them, is when I’d seen how much joy they brought to my people,” she said.
She made residents crowns on their birthdays, and one year decorated wheelchairs to look like floats for a Mardi Gras parade. Duggan said her patients were amazing people with wonderful stories.
Duggan would often take her son, who had Down syndrome, to work with her. He died suddenly at age 13.
“After he died, one of the nursing assistants came to me with this box, this present, and I opened it and it was $100 in dimes and quarters and $1 bills that the residents…”
She paused, smiling and tearing up at the memory.
“They took up a collection for me.”
Balloons have helped her return the kind gesture ten-fold.
When Duggan later worked at Evergreen Hospital, she sold balloon bouquets to raise money for coworkers going through hard times, like one who had breast cancer.
“It was never a lot of money, maybe like $1,000 to $1,500, but what it was was them knowing that people are thinking of them,” she said.
She moved to Salem to be closer to her daughter and brought her balloon talents with her.
Duggan said balloons have brought magic and freedom into her life. She only does the work on a volunteer basis or for charity, which gives her the option to be creative.
She said if she had a catchphrase, it would be “Balloons aren’t just for kids.”
At the end of the hour of wedding setup, Duggan’s balloons had transformed the courtroom’s plain interior into a celebration of love. For Kidd, whose job as justice can mean working with people going through their worst days, the weddings are a welcome way he can spread joy.
His favorite part is when the couples fill out the paperwork, and he has a chance to ask about their stories. He always asks what their favorite thing is about each other.
“Sometimes we go through life assuming that people know the really important stuff, but they don’t actually say it,” he said.
When asked what drew her to the courthouse weddings, Duggan said it was in honor of her son, and her late husband who she described as a good friend.
“If I couldn’t go on and be better after having them in my life, I didn’t deserve them in my life,” she said. “That’s one of the things the balloons have allowed me to do.”
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
