Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Despite wind scare, New Yorkers assemble to watch the giant balloons fly
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, one of the city’s most popular events, features about 8,000 marchers, two dozen floats, entertainers and marching bands, ending with an appearance from Santa Claus.
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The beloved balloons flew, but lower than usual, in a windy Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after an anxious weather watch. Wind had threatened to ground the giant inflated characters. But officials announced less than an hour before Thursday’s start time that the balloons could fly, if in a down-to-Earth way. Photo via The Associated Press/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
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As the parade continued — even while city emergency officials sent out a public alert about wind gusts — handlers struggled with some giant balloons and pulled them close to the ground. Meanwhile, winds did keep giant balloons out of Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Photo via The Associated Press/Mark Lennihan
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Spectators lined up a half-dozen deep along the route on a gusty fall day, with leaves and confetti swirling in the wind. A “Green Eggs and Ham” balloon joined the lineup, Smokey Bear returned for the first time since 1993, and spectators got to see new versions of favourites Snoopy and SpongeBob SquarePants. Photo via The Associated Press/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
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A smaller new balloon, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s “Love Flies Up to the Sky,” and two star-shaped balloons ultimately didn’t make the lineup because of tears and stress from inflation before the parade, Macy’s said. A giant Ronald McDonald balloon also tore before the parade and was pulled out midway through, the company said. The McDonald’s character had a visibly deflated leg. Photo via The Associated Press/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
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Macy’s spokesman Orlando Veras called the parade “a fantastic event despite these minor challenges.” During the middle of the parade, the wind was 13 mph (21 kph) with gusts up to 32 mph (51 kph), according to the National Weather Service. Photo via The Associated Press/Mark Lennihan
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A woman in a flower costume marches in front of the Wiggle Worm balloon during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Photo via The Associated Press/Mark Lennihan
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Astronaut Snoopy balloon makes its way down New York’s Central Park West during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Photo via The Associated Press/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
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The parade, one of the city’s most popular events, features about 8,000 marchers, two dozen floats, entertainers and marching bands, ending with an appearance from Santa Claus. Photo via The Associated Press/Mark Lennihan
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The character balloons can go as high as 55 feet (16 meters) off the ground and as low as 10 feet (3 metres). The rules requiring them to be grounded in high winds came after a “Cat in the Hat” balloon blew into a lamppost near Central Park in 1997, critically injuring a woman. Photo via The Associated Press/Mark Lennihan
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In 2005, an M&M’s balloon smacked into a lamppost in Times Square, causing cuts and bruises to a woman in a wheelchair and her 11-year-old sister. In 2017, a gust on an otherwise calm day sent a smaller balloon into a tree branch. That one popped and fell harmlessly onto the crowd. Photo via The Associated Press/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
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