I love a good parade. I even love a bad parade! I guess I rank circuses and parades right up there together as my two favorite forms of live entertainment. Of the two, though, parades hold a lot of memories. Every year growing up my grandparents took me to the Cotton Carnival parade in Memphis where we lived. Back then I remember the parades being big and loud, with large, noisy high school marching bands from throughout the country and amazing floats sponsored by national companies. Those parades were a big deal. You don’t see that many remarkable parades today, because people are too busy I think. Businesses are too busy and don’t have enough money to build great floats. Schools seem to have so much going on that there just isn’t the time or funding to send bus loads of students off to march in parades.
There is, however, one parade tradition that has endured for over 80 years. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has not just survived but grown into a mega-show that each year attracts millions of spectators on the streets of New York with many millions more watching at home on TV. It takes thousands of volunteers and workers to make the parade happen, and it truly is an amazing logistical ballet that has to be seen in person to be believed.
Being a sucker for parades, I watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV every year. Usually I watch it on NBC, where they feature that parade “pre show” with cheering crowds sitting on grandstands right in front of Macy’s. How in the world did those people ever get THOSE tickets, I wondered? They must be VIPP’s: Very Important Parade People. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the entertainment and event business, it’s all about who you know. My invitation to work the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade came through someone I already knew.
You can’t just “work” the parade. You have to be “sponsored” by someone connected with the Macy’s parade. For a number of years I’ve helped to produce the Virginia Beach holiday parade. We use giant helium balloons in that parade that come from a supplier in Pennsylvania. The supplier, Bill, trucks down 6-8 balloons each year for our parade. It just so happens that Bill has been involved with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for many years, usually at balloon inflation the day before the parade and at balloon deflation the day of the parade at its conclusion behind Macy’s at 34th Street and Broadway. Bill was kind enough to provide me with grandstand passes to view the parade two years straight – in 2006 and 2007.
In 2006 I watched the parade with my friend Rich at the beginning of the route - right next to the VIP seating area. Sitting a mere 20 feet away from me was Billy Joel. I kept calling all my friends to flaunt my new status as VIPP and give them updates on which celebrities were roaming around in front of me. The second year, I watched the parade with my friends David and Linda at the END of the parade route, in the grandstands at the side of Macy’s (not the more-coveted grandstands directly IN FRONT where all the TV action occurs). It rained that second year for most of the parade. What amazed me were all the Macy’s employees who were marching in the parade as clowns. So many of them shook hands with me as they walked by, thanking me for coming to their little parade in the rain! If it was rainy and miserable you’d never know it from their attitudes. They were having the best time, and were intent on making sure everyone else was too.
In 2008 Bill asked me if I’d like to work the parade. Are you KIDDING? WORK the parade? I didn’t even know that was possible. He said he could get the parade’s Director of Street Operations to sponsor me and get me in with all the proper paperwork. Not only that, but I would get PAID to do it! This was beyond my wildest imagination! I would get to see firsthand the behind-the-scenes logistics of one of the biggest live entertainment events of all time. This was, for this parade geek, a dream come true!
My position with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade would be on the Street Operations team. Although that sounded exciting, I wasn’t exactly sure what I would be doing. Try as I might for the next few weeks after learning I was accepted to help with the parade, I still wasn’t able to discern EXACTLY what I would be doing. I came to understand much later that the “Street Ops” team fulfills many roles, and basically does whatever it takes to assure a successful parade on the streets of New York.
I attended a pre-parade staff meeting two weeks before Thanksgiving. My trip to NYC was brief…just long enough to breeze into town to attend an orientation meeting at Macy’s in Herald Square. I must say that it was amazing to be able to enter through the Macy’s employees’ entrance on 7th Avenue and proceed to the 14th floor conference room. The meeting was led by the Director of Operations for the parade, and included a short speech by Robin Hall, Executive Producer for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Robin is the one who (sort of dressed like a circus ringmaster) always starts off the parade with Al Roker from The Today Show during NBC’s coverage on Thanksgiving morning. Robin’s pep talk was to the point, and mentioned how it takes over 4,000 volunteers to make the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade happen each and every year!
I volunteered to work “balloon inflation” the day before the parade. Street Ops needed additional bodies and again I offered my services even though I didn’t know exactly what I would be doing. I also learned that the day of the actual parade I would be working DOWNTOWN near the end of the parade route, and not at the staging area uptown at 77th Street and Central Park West. At the orientation meeting I also discovered the process for getting my parade credentials and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade jacket. I immediately fantasized about getting to KEEP the jacket as a practical souvenir. Somehow I knew that wasn’t going to happen! Shortly after leaving the orientation meeting, I headed back to Norfolk to count the days and hours before returning to Manhattan to get to be a part of the World’s Greatest Parade.
Finally it was time to return to New York City. I left Norfolk on Monday with plans to arrive at Macy’s headquarters that evening to check in and fill out paperwork. To make my adventure even MORE adventurous, I took the “Chinatown” bus from Norfolk to New York. That, my friends, is a whole story in itself! I certainly don’t have the time nor space to write about that here, so we’ll just stick to the original story. At Macy’s, I was instructed to head to the special events floor in a different building. I wasn’t really aware that there was a whole Macy’s staff dedicated to special events. Aside from the parade, they produce a 4th of July fireworks show, flower shows, and more. The special events office had fascinating posters, conceptual art, props, and toys scattered about. This truly was a magical place!
Soon I was led to a more business-like office to complete paperwork with other parade workers. I found out that I would actually become a Macy’s employee and receive an employee discount from this and other Macy’s stores! I knew then what I would be doing on Tuesday – shopping for Christmas presents at Macy’s with my new employee discount! The process of completing an employment application online was frustrating and took much longer than I anticipated. I was at last led to another floor to receive my coveted parade credentials and a staff parade jacket. I received a laminate to work uptown AND downtown since I would be uptown at balloon inflation on Wednesday and downtown on the day of the parade. Apparently I was one of the last workers to receive a jacket, because the only size remaining was a 3X! When I put it on I felt like I had been swallowed up and actually looked like one of the giant balloons that would soon be floating down Broadway. I didn’t mind, though, because on the very cold day of the parade I was toasty and comfortable.
On Wednesday morning I took the subway to the Upper West Side to 77th Street and Columbus Avenue where a parade operations trailer was located. I wasn’t immediately able to locate a supervisor, so I walked around to see what was going on and how I could help. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon inflation is an event itself. By Wednesday night, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers would be crowding into the area to get a glimpse of the balloons before their big debut the next day. The balloons are carefully laid out and inflated on 77th Street and 81st Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. These two streets border the American Museum of Natural History, which everyone recognizes from the wildly-popular movie, “Night at the Museum.” On these two streets, giant tarps are laid out first, completely covering the asphalt and protecting the balloons from dirt, oil, and muddy water. The balloons are laid out, and corresponding a-frame signs, with complete instructions for inflating each balloon, are placed alongside. Even the giant helium balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade come with directions! Nets are spread out on top of the balloons to help secure them after they’re inflated.
The balloons are filled with helium that is trucked in on tractor-trailer flatbeds. These trucks carry the largest helium tanks imaginable! They almost look like rocket fuel tanks stacked one on top of the other. Inflation crews dressed in matching-colored jumpsuits inflate the balloons from these tanks throughout the day and into the night. The balloons are filled to the point where they hover just one foot or so off the street. The nets thrown over the balloons are sand-bagged. In addition, large ropes thrown across the balloons tether them to the street via large eye-hooks imbedded in the curbs. At night, under the lights, these giant balloons hovering just above the street create an eerie scene that has to be viewed in person to believe.
My job at balloon inflation soon became helping to set up the generator-driven flood light “trees” all along 77th and 81st Streets. These would illuminate the balloons so they could be seen by thousands of spectators later that night, and helped the crew to be able to see as they continued filling balloons after sunset. It’s interesting, being a “lighting guy,” that I would get this job. Many of the light trees were already in place, but some had to be loaded in with tractors and set into position. Before cranking up the telescoping tower for each one, I tried as best I could to focus the individual lights so they would supply the most even coverage of light for the balloons. Each generator had to then be started so the lights would come on. Some of the generators had seen better days, and were resistant to performing their role for the parade!
Later in the day I became aware of how cold it actually was. I was glad I had my over-sized parade jacket. In fact, a few visitors wanted me to turn around so they could take a photo of the back of my jacket, which was emblazoned with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade logo. Macy’s had set up catering trailers along 77th and 81st Streets for the crew. Their soup hit the spot! On each street was also parked a tour bus, each of which was there solely to provide a warm place for the staff to go for a few minutes to thaw out. As day turned into night, over a half million spectators came to see the balloons. I was humbled by the logistics that were necessary to make this possible. Hundreds of police officers, Macy’s employees, and volunteers all worked together to funnel people through an intricate system of barricades to view the balloons in an orderly manner.
My job later, after I was handed a bull-horn, was to stand on a platform and thank people for coming to see the balloons on 77th Street and remind them to walk over to 81st Street to see the rest of the parade balloons. I did this for over three hours, my voice finally growing hoarse from the talking. I had a few interesting encounters, including the one with a nice British lady who pointed out to me Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment. She was very nice, and fun to talk to, but I’m not sure it was really Jerry Seinfeld’s place she showed me. Later that night I was giving my “spiel” when I heard someone shout “Mike!” “Mike Hilton!” I turned around and there was a hotel executive from Virginia Beach who was there with his family! It never ceases to amaze me how you can run into someone hundreds of miles away from home in a crowd of thousands of strangers. At last my tiring work day at balloon inflation was over and it was time to return to my hotel.
My alarm buzzed at 3:00am the next morning, but I’m not sure I slept at all. I had asked for a wake-up call as well, but I was deathly afraid of over-sleeping and missing the whole Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. When I did wake up, I got ready, put on my gigantic parade jacket, gloves, and hat, and headed for the subway. This time I was headed downtown to Macy’s Herald Square. Upon arriving at 35th Street and Broadway at 4:15am, I was surprised to find a rehearsal going on! This was the exact location that I had seen many times as I watched the parade on NBC. The grandstands were set up right in front of Macy’s. Painters were touching up part of the giant Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade logo painted right onto Broadway. There were massive TV satellite trucks and broadcast booths directly across the street. They were in the midst of a rehearsal for all performing units that would be in the parade. This included marching bands and other groups like cheerleaders. The rehearsal had actually been going on for an hour ALREADY!
I was sent over to 7th Avenue to help place some barricades along the street to hold back spectators. After finishing that task, I was instructed by my supervisor to go back to Broadway to help out. This was definitely a dream come true! Upon completion of the first rehearsal, I was told that I would be assisting with the rehearsal of Broadway casts that would be part of the “pre-show” parade entertainment on NBC from 9:00am-11:00am. All along 35th Street were parked giant trailers that served as “green rooms” for each Broadway cast. Casts from “South Pacific,” “White Christmas,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “In the Heights” would be performing. I was to lead each group from their trailers out to the street and to chase away any intruders. Broadway cast members were given a Macy’s parade pin to wear on their costumes to identify him or her as a legitimate performer in the parade. Naturally, most of them did NOT wear the pins, which caused some confusion for me, especially with the cast from “In the Heights” who were dressed in more normal clothes. I didn’t have much difficulty spotting cast members from “The Little Mermaid.” Most of them had fins. Or tails.
This rehearsal was mostly designed for working out entrances and exits and for camera angles. There was a giant robotic TV camera located across the street, as well as hand-held cameras all along the street. Things went very smoothly for the next two hours, although I felt very sorry for the performers standing out in the cold, doing take after take, many of them in skimpy costumes! They were all eager to get back to their trailers after the rehearsal.
We were now just an hour from the start of NBC’s parade coverage. The parade actually steps off at 9:00am uptown, but takes nearly the two hours to wind its way down Broadway to Herald Square. The NBC pre-parade show provides much-needed entertainment for those two hours, and gets everybody into the holiday spirit. My next assignment, I was told, was to be stationed at Broadway and 35th to guard the entrance to the Broadway cast trailers, and to secure the crosswalk from anyone attempting to cross during the parade. Naturally this was the perfect spot to view the pre-parade entertainment AND the parade itself. I was in heaven!
Finally, I could see the parade approaching Herald Square. Roller-skating clowns, balloons, costume characters, and more, all led by Executive Producer Robin Hall, were making their way toward Macy’s. It took my breath away. This was something I had watched on TV countless times, but never imagined I would get to see in person. The weather was perfect. The parade was perfect. The entire experience was perfect! I really didn’t have to work that hard for the next two hours, and tried as best I could to be picked up by the robotic camera across the street every time it panned in my direction.
Floats stopped in front of Macy’s so their on-board stars could perform (well, lip sync!). Miley Cyrus, David Archuleta (from “American Idol”), James Taylor, Darius Rucker, and more all “sang” a song in front of Macy’s. The giant balloons look even more monstrous when you’re standing right under them as they come down Broadway. Hundreds of Macy’s employees dressed as clowns came down the street, high-fiving me and having the time of their lives. I’ve never had so much glitter thrown on me (well, that I could remember, anyway).
And then it was over before it even began. Or so it seemed. In my mind, the parade was RACING down Broadway. Sadly, my once-in-a-lifetime experience at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was over and it was time to return my official parade jacket to Macy’s. I walked over to the Macy’s building on 7th Avenue and surrendered my jacket. It was then that I realized I was going to freeze to death because I hadn’t brought my real coat from the hotel. Forlorn, I walked down the dim flight of stairs to the subway platform and was about to go through the turnstile with my MTA card. A NYPD officer saw me and motioned for me to come toward him. I still had my parade credentials proudly displayed around my neck. He opened the exit door for me and allowed me to go through without paying. I thanked him profusely.
Later I received a letter and certificate from Robin Hall, the Executive Producer of the parade. In part, it said: “The Parade had its biggest television audience in almost a decade, and there have been an unprecedented number of letters, calls, and emails from friends, strangers, customers, marchers, and other participants who occupy a place in the “big tent” that is the Macy’s Parade. The messages are all different, but there is a common thread…more people than unusual are reaching out to thank us for the “very best” parade ever, others are applauding its big moments and many are sharing their deeply felt emotions. This was a Parade that lifted people, elevated their spirits and raised their hopes. This was an event that delivered something that translated into joy during a very difficult time in America.”
I agree whole-heartedly with those words, and it was something I was proud to be a part of.
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