J.R. Briggs
Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep
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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade photos
Yesterday’s Thanksgiving festivities were a bit unorthodox for us. Megan, Carter, Megan’s parents, myself, a friend and her parents drove to New York City and enjoyed the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.We attended the parade last year with some friends. We watched the parade in a crush of people about 25 people back from the street. It was a little hard to see – and a bit cold – but we had a great time and enjoyed the experience.
We talked about the experience all year so we thought we’d do it again this Thanksgiving. This year’s parade was far better. We came over the George Washington Bridge and parked in Harlem and took the subway down to Central Park and got out at the Museum of Natural History. We arrived 30 minutes before the start of the parade and just happened to stumble on a spot on the corner of 77th and Central Park West, which was the official start location of the parade. We found spots where we could lean right against the barricade rail on the street – first in line, on the curb, taking the whole thing in – which put us close enough to be able to high-five clowns, smell the manure deposited by the horses on the street and have confetti thrown on us. (Something utterly impossible to find the closer you get to Times Square and Macy’s – the actually footage you see on television). Half-way through the parade we were actually standing in the street on the edge. The temperature was 55 degrees. It was incredible to be so close taking it all in.
While the parade was incredible, watching the balloons and the handlers in the staging area was just as fascinating as the parade itself. So much organization goes into pulling off something of this magnitude. People dressed as turtles and pirates (on stilts, no less) and clowns. There were high school cheer teams in matching outfits, camera crews, horses and marching bands standing in place behind us. There were jump rope teams and police officers and of course, families everywhere.
As we looked on we could hear whistles blowing and the last-minute instructions being yelled out through megaphones by parade staff. So much activity, so many bright colors, so much organized chaos – all with smiles and greetings of “Happy Thanksgiving!” as everyone passed by rushed, but cheerful.
Even the starfish lady who was handling the Spongebob Squarepants balloon agreed to a picture with us and chatted with us for a few moments before needing to take her place.
You don’t see sights like this every day – not even in New York.
Spiderman, after a several-year hiatus, was back in the parade this year. This is shortly after the official start at 9 am. Fortunately, the public address announcer was across the street and we could hear him announce each float, balloon and celebrity as they went by. Since we weren’t near a television, this was beneficial since some of the celebrities who went by were stars on many of the kids’ shows we were unaware of.
We could reach out and touch some of the floats. You can really see how close we were to the action…
When you watch the parade on television you just can’t grasp the magnitude of these balloons. From street level, you truly get the full perspective. They are massive – and quite impressive!
Tom the Turkey, an annual tradition:
The high school marching bands were impressive as well. What a thrill it must be these students to participate in such a popular event.
Several stars in the parade (Gloria Gaynor, Miss America, Carly Simon, Ziggy Marley and Cindy Lauper, who winked at me – not sure what to make of that…) including Jimmy Fallon and The Roots Band. (Because Carter loves guitars so much, he told us this was his favorite part of the parade).
Carter enjoying the parade with his Grandma:
And what would the end of the Macy’s Parade be without Santa.
The strange part of being at the start is that when the parade “ends” where you’re at everyone disperses. But the parade route is about two miles in length – and for the participants in the parade there’s still a lot of waving and singing and marching left. As we were walking around Manhattan about an hour later, we passed a restaurant that had a television in the window with the parade on. It was quite strange to catch a moment of the parade on live television and think to yourself, “Oh, we already saw that this morning…” That’s enough to make your brain smoke if you think about it too long…
The sun came out and it warmed up even more as we walked around Central Park for quite a while, taking pictures and enjoying the fabulous views. We walked to Rockefeller Center and watched the ice skaters while we ate lunch. We trudged through Times Square, walked by Radio City Music Hall and down Park Avenue and then back to the subway. Then we popped in to see some great friends of ours who live in Brooklyn to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving before heading home.
If you ever get a chance to go to the parade on Thanksgiving – do it! It makes for an early morning and a unique Thanksgiving experience, but one that you should do at least once in your lifetime.