The Thanksgiving Day Parade has come and gone, but it’s left me with some fond memories. I’d never gone to this Macy’s Day spectacle until last week, but I’d always been curious to see those big balloons floating down Broadway. There is something about the combination of parades and giant blow-up balloons that’s intriguing and brings you back to childhood.
I’m not alone in this fascination with giant balloons in Manhattan. Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis showed a fascination with these giant balloons in the supernatural comedy film “Ghostbusters” when they created the 112-foot-tall Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man, who came waltzing up Central Park West intent on destroying Manhattan. Actually that big puffy white mascot derives from the combination of two real brand ambassadors, namely The Pillsbury Doughboy and Bibendum, the Michelin Tire Man.
Actually not every balloon in the Macy’s Day Parade was there to sell food stuffs. True I did see the Jolly Green Giant and the Pillsbury Doughboy, but for the most part the balloon parade was all about cartoon characters. We had Snoopy dressed like an Eagle Scout, Stuart the Minion, Smokey the Bear, SpongeBob SquarePants, Pikachu and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. None of these were sinister or scary and the kids who sat atop their parents shoulders all seemed mesmerized by the whole affair.
Fun Facts; It takes 10,000 people to put on this event at a cost of $13 million, which is funded by Macy’s. Three million people line the streets and there are 50 million television viewers watching at home. The cost to fill up the balloons with helium is about $500,000. A company must pay $190,000 to have a balloon included in the parade.
More Fun Facts: The most financially successful artist on earth is Jeff Koons, who made a fortune by building 10-foot-tall stainless steel replicas of balloon dogs. Balloon Dog (orange) sold for $58.4 million. But in the event you don’t like dogs but prefer rabbits, his stainless steel balloon rabbit sold for $91 million. And if the large size won’t fit within your living room or within your budget, you can always buy a smaller porcelain version titled Balloon Dog (blue) for $42,000. There is money to be made in balloons, whether they are made of rubber, stainless steel or porcelain.
Parades hold a special fascination. The first Macy’s Day Parade back in 1924 used real animals like bears, monkeys and elephants, but they proved to be too scary for kids so they were replaced by giant inflatable versions of popular films and literary animals.
The Macy’s Day Parade has many high school marching bands, bits from Broadway shows and big name entertainers like Cher.
Parades were loved by the Italian director Federico Fellini, who tended to include them in his films. Usually they were a small band of musicians playing tubas, clarinets and flutes who paraded down the street or around a circus ring as in the end of the film”8 ½.”
The sweet sounds of a parade was one of the central images in Herman Hesse’s classic essay“Little Joys” and Akira Kurosawa’s “Dreams” has an unforgettable parade scene celebrating a villager’s death.
There is something special about parades because they are so simple, fun, light and communal. Parades like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade entail massive planning by the organizers but nothing more than showing up for those who want to see it. You get to view not only the bands and floats and balloons, but you also get to see what your neighbors look like.
This parade I wanted to view for a long time and finally did so this Thanksgiving. Curiously, my overriding memory of it occurred before the parade even started. I drove into the city the night before and stayed in the Peninsula Hotel on Fifth Avenue and 55th street so I wouldn’t have far to walk. I was up nice and early in the morning, had a quick breakfast and coffee and left early to insure that I got a good view. I stepped outside the hotel, turned left, headed west and started walking down the long street to get to 6th Avenue.
As I walked along I was passed by a father and his daughter, who was about 5 years old. She was holding her father’s hand and they both were rushing along to get their spots and I couldn’t tell who was more excited, the little girl or the father. I watched them for a bit and then I looked further down the street and caught my first glimpse of a giant 60-foot acorn go floating down 6th Avenue.