Here comes Spiderman
The overcast chilly weather couldn’t stop the millions of spectators to come out early Thanksgiving Day and watch the many great balloons, the hundreds of themed clowns, a fine cast of celebrities, and some of the best marching bands in the country perform. Celebrating the 88th annual Macys Thanksgiving Parade included a star filled line-up with the likes of Nick Jonas, William Blake, Idina Menzel, rock legends KISS and a whole host of other music performers. Televised globally, the parade is the precursor to the upcoming holiday season. The beginning of the parade this year showcased the largest marching of the parade coming in from Western Carolina University with hundreds of band members getting the crowd worked up for what would be a fun-filled day.
Nick Jonas
The first float to appear was Tom the Turkey float with this years first celebrity, cooking personality Sandra Lee. But most people had their sights on the first of many large balloons to float on by. Thomas the Tank Engine made his first appearance in the parade followed by more celebrity filled floats and some great marching bands. The Bahamian All Star Marching Band really made a splash at the parade. A new float celebrating baseball was a big hit since it displayed a large screen with cameras focused on parade spectators. The Hello Kitty balloon got the kids worked up for a favorite celebrity, Nick Jonas. The Paddington Bear balloon was also new to the parade and really looked detailed with soft hair. A definite show stealer were the Red Hot Mamas trying to give the Rockettes a run for their money. The next hour was the best part of the parade with huge balloons making kids from 2 to 99 say a great big Wow. One of the most impressive was newcomer Red Power Ranger coming to the rescue. One of the biggest balloons brought many smiles and some scary faces if your afraid of big black dragons that is. Newcomer Erupter from Skylanders was pretty cool to look at. Then everyone’s favorite creepy crawler floated by ready to weave a web and catch the bad guys. Superhero Spiderman looked ready to take on any villain.
One of the best pairings of the parade was when legendary rock band Kiss was on a float just before the Finn and Jake balloon. The scary look on Finn’s face might have been because Kiss terrified him. One of the better bands came in from Georgia State University and they really got the crowd worked up with a crazy drummer getting into their version of the Neil Diamond classic, Sweet Caroline. The parade theme started to change from Thanksgiving to Christmas with the Foothills Falcons Marching Band playing themed music and some floats and balloons that got everyone waiting in anticipation for the grand finale. But first one of most impressive of all bands which was not really a band wowed the crowd. The all-male Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corp. showed why they are one of the premier drum and bugle corps in the nation. All the kids got excited when their favorite cartoon character left his pineapple home under the sea, none other than SpongeBob Squarepants. Having the best time of any group were the Elves jumping up and down with lots of energy getting ready to introduce the main man, Santa Claus. I lost count of how many adults took selfies with Santa in the background. Everywhere I looked there were smiles galore and kids waving for his attention even the big kids.
This year’s menu of parades was amazing… beginning with the fortunate Chinese Lunar New Year (missed a major snowstorm by a day), the oldest parade in the country; St. Patrick’s Day parade, the young but vibrant Dance parade, the loud and proud Puerto Rican and Dominican parades, the loving LBGT Pride parade, the whacky Mermaid parade, the largest and most colorful Labor Day parade, the insightful African-American parade, the cultural Hispanic and spicy Italian Heritage parade, the scariest Halloween parade, the Nation’s Veterans parade and breathtaking Thanksgiving parades were a continuing preservation of culture, history and creativity of the greatest city on the planet. It was my honor and privilege to witness and chronicle these important events. First I wanted to give thanks to the parade organizers for their tireless work in making these parades possible. Thanks to the hundreds of thousands of volunteers and marchers, especially the marching bands. Thanks to the NYPD for keeping everyone safe. And especially thanks to you the reader for keeping this blog going.
NYC Parade Life 