STORY: :: November 27, 2024

:: New York

:: New Yorkers watch balloons come to life

before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

“It’s all joy, fun and lightheartedness, and it’s about the spirit and being together as a family.”

“Lots of colors and they’re so big. And I just want to see Spiderman and Kermit the Frog.”

:: Orlando Veras, speaker, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

“All Macy’s parade balloons are unique. They all have different scales and sizes. They have different chambers. One of the things people don’t know is that they’re supposed to…make it into a giant balloon.” At scale, it’s actually several balloons stuck together. So the hand could be a balloon, the nose like the other one. And these are then all glued together to make the larger balloon. that’s what we call it When you inflate the balloon, it takes a little longer to inflate, because you not only have to inflate it, but also put it in the right position, and the hat is not inflated, so you can’t get to the hat anymore , when the head is already high up.

Hundreds of spectators watched as workers blew helium into 17 character balloons, 22 floats and 15 historical and novelty balloons.

“It’s all about joy and fun and lightheartedness and it’s about the spirit and being together as a family,” said Rachel Walsh of Mountainside, New Jersey, who came with her husband and two sons to watch the balloon’s inflation, but was not present. I plan to attend the parade, which will also feature over 700 clowns, 11 marching bands and 10 performance groups.

The parade begins at 8:30 a.m. EST on Thanksgiving.