At the hotel we were told to move away from Herald’s Square to watch the parade because this area is blocked off for the NBC telecast and not accessible to the public. The grandstand seating you see on television is for Macy’s employees, family members and parade partners. In 1924, originally known as Macy’s Christmas Parade, the Parade was started by Macy’s employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. It was such a success that Macy’s declared it would become an annual event and today it takes 8,000 volunteers to put on the 2 1/2 mile parade. On the Roll Again with Andra Day: With a vintage flair & voice for the ages, Andra Day has perfected her retro pop soul sound and is ready to share it. Her alluring powerful alto voice has inspired comparisons to Amy Winehouse & Adele. This family of ducks measures over 46 ft …
The group performers, and bands make the parade a parade of America, making it feel like a hometown occasion. There are 8,000 total participants (approximately 4,000 of which are Macy’s employees, including clowns, marching bands, dancers, balloon handlers and big-name performers. Many of these volunteers are doctors, nurses, advertising executives, social media managers of course a tone of Macy’s employees. These people gladly spend their Thanksgiving morning dancing and throwing confetti down the streets of New York. The 610 Stompers with ages ranging from 20 to 60l refuse to allow professional dancers to taint their motto of Ordinary Men, Extraordinary Moves. Since their birth in 2009, they have evolved and grown into a 100-man strong, all male dance group whose bold mission is to return the ordinary man to the glory of dance. The members f the Stompers come from all walks of life and from across the country. New …
In the 89th Macy’s parade there were more than a thousand clowns dancing and throwing confetti down the streets of New York. These pictures cannot show the interaction the clowns had with the spectators as they marched. To be a clown in the parade, you have to attend Clown U or do an online clown training and sign a Clown Oath. The oath outlines good clown behavior for the parade. The training was done by professional clowns who stressed to the trainees that they should be careful with their bag of confetti and not to accidentally throw the entire bag at a single spectator. The clowns met at the New Yorker Hotel at 5:45 to put on their costumes and make-up. The clowns were back at their starting point by 11 a.m. where hot chocolate and snacks were served. The Half-Baked Holiday Clowns are sure to warm up your appetite …
The balloons looked a lot different from last night. The netting and sandbags had been removed and the balloons, without much wind, were allowed to flying high. If the Kool-Aid Man Balloonicle were an actual pitcher of Kool-Aid there would be over 10,000 gallons to share. He is high as 3 story building, as wide as 5 taxi cabs, and has 8 handlers. Novelty Balloon the handlers obey the request of the parade viewers to “bounce the balloon.” Star of Macy’s “Yes, Virginia” sweetly floats clutching her special letter. She is as high as 3 story building, as wide as 4 taxi cabs, as long as 4 bicycles, and has 32 handlers. Thomas the Tank Engine is as high as 4 story building, wide as 5 taxi cabs, long as 9 bicycles,and has 90 handlers. Elf on the Shelf is as high as 5 story building, wide as 6 taxi …
On Thursday morning the guys left the hotel at 5:30 to stake out a place for us to watch the parade. They found a very nice area at the barricades among trees and small shrubs with a small fence marking off the area. Red and green Christmas ribbon was quickly put out to mark off “our” spot. Around 6:30 the guys requested the extra blankets (stored in heavy plastic) from the hotel rooms, for cushions to sit on, and coffee. Holan place two of them in a mesh bag and we covered them with Phyllis’ dress. We thought the hotel might not let her out the front door with them. She made it past the desk and parade security and was back quickly, but she didn’t bring back the bag. So the third blanket “wore” Dee’s coat down the street to 6th Avenue between 37th and 34th Streets. We were …
After seeing all the balloons, we found the subway and headed back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped in at the Playwright Irish Pub and Restaurant. The Pub was just 5 doors up from the hotel. We could stop, have dinner and then be back in our rooms in five minutes. Sounded great. First thing we noticed that the waitress had an Irish accent, seemed appropriate and added to the Irish pub atmosphere. This was the Shepard pie, a great thing to order in an Irish Pub!
Snoopy: high as 9 story building, wide as 5 taxi cabs, long as 11 bicycle, 90 handlers
More balloon photos with a little info about the balloon.
On Wednesday night we traveled, by subway, to the Upper West Side of Manhattan to preview the giant balloons for the Parade on Thursday. We spotted the first balloon just to find out we were at the end of the viewing route. The policeman told us which way to go and we headed out. After several blocks of following people we finally made it to the entrance. So this first picture was actually the end and note it was still daylight when we were there. In these photos we have it the into the maze to see the balloons. Now you can see that it is getting darker, so it did take us some time get here. Because it was a warm night for late November there were lots of people. There was a designated viewing path, 12 to 18 people across and as far as we could see in …
Times Square is undergoing a redesign to provide additional public space for pedestrians and events, and transform “the bow tie” into a world-class piazza. The transformation is a three-phase capital project that began in 2012 and is currently scheduled to be completed by December 2016.  NYC Time Square’s Iconic mime artist “Da Goldman” that makes the heart of NYC skip a beat. After leaving Time Square we head towards Central Park and found Crown Deli to have lunch. It was across the street from The Ed Sullivan Theatre, the home of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The deli had a pay by the pound buffet which offered a wide variety of hot food, a sandwich/bagel station, a salad station and pre-made sandwiches. We opted for the per-made sandwiches and chips. We made our way upstairs where there were lots of tables, a Sushi bar and the VERY dirty …
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