The Everyday Adventure

Growing up, every Thanksgiving my favorite part of the day was watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. When I made The List, my list of things I wanted to do in life (not calling it a bucket list), I decided that one of the items would be to participate in the Macy’s Parade. I normally would forget to proactively find out about how to sign up to be a participant, but I did know that it was put on by Macy’s employees and their friends and family.  Each year I would be watching the parade and I would be reminded that it was still on the list. In 2011, I emailed a couple of people that I found that had connections to the parade but those emails went unanswered. Then in 2013, I sent a note out to friends, asking if any of them knew of anyone. But sadly, none of them had connections.

Randomly, in July of 2014, while visiting my parents, I thought about the parade and decided that I should see if I could find out about volunteering this year.  So, I did what anyone would do. I posted my inquiry on social media.  It didn’t take too long before I started getting some responses.  Most were things like, “That would be so cool”.  One was from a high school classmate, telling me that they had been able to participate because their sister worked for Macy’s but sadly she wasn’t going to be participating this year so she couldn’t help me. Then, I got a message from my boss’s daughter.  She had a contact through a friend of a friend. It was only a day or so and I had an email address of someone that might be able to help me.

So on July 30^th, I sent an email to a complete stranger asking if there was any way they could help me volunteer for the parade. Much to my surprise the very next day, I had a response.  This stranger, knowing nothing about me other than what I shared in two paragraphs of an email, was so kind as to help me make this dream a reality.  Blake was her name.  She was a balloon captain and she offered me a spot on her team. Holy cow, was this really happening? I can’t even believe this right now. I got her the info she needed from me and she submitted it.  That was it. I was going to be part of the parade! 

By the end of August, I had my official application from Macy’s to participate in the parade.  The application process is quite interesting.  I was applying for a balloon handler position.  During the application process you have to watch a training video on what your duties are as a balloon handler. What the cues from the captains mean, safety of handling the balloon, how to hold the controls, etc. You also have to fill out all your measurements so you can be properly fitted for your costume. I submitted all of that and then I waited for my assignment.

I believe it was sometime in late October (could have been early November), I got my packet in the mail.  I had been assigned to the balloon, Eruptor.  It was a new balloon from Skylanders. In the packet was my instruction card that had all my details for when I needed to arrive and what was going to happen. It informed me on where I needed to go and how I should dress. Now all I had to do was wait.

I was able to talk two of my friends in to going with me to NYC for the parade. I had an event in Syracuse, NY the weekend prior so on that Sunday we all flew to NYC and met up.  We spent the week sightseeing and hanging out.  I booked a hotel about a block from where I had to check in for the parade.  The night before we walked around the area making sure I knew where I was going. Then the morning of the parade, I headed to the Hammerstein Ballroom for my 5:30 am call time. I was in the second group.  The first group had to arrive at 4:30 am.  That just meant I was in the back half of the parade. It was a cold NYC day.  I arrived at the location, checked in and found my way to my assigned area to receive my costume.  They ask some specific measurements during the application process.  I was handed an orange jumpsuit, a bib apron and a bag with a yellow hat and black gloves. I put my costume on and am directed to the buses waiting outside.  They drive us up to where the parade is staged.  I get off the bus and go looking for my balloon.

As I’m walking trying to find my balloon, I have an overwhelming feeling of excitement come over me.  I can’t believe it, I’m really here and I’m really getting to do this. I find my balloon and keep thinking that any minute I’m going to get to meet the person that helped make this happen for me. It also becomes quite clear that I’m the only person assigned to the balloon that doesn’t know at least one other person on the balloon.  A wonderful woman starts chatting with me.  She tells me about how she participates on the parade every year and that she so badly wants to be a clown the parade one day. She helps explain how things work and helps me not feel quite so alone in all this. I also learned that a group from California was assigned to the balloon and they were the creators of Skylanders. (How cool is that?!?)

It’s time to launch the balloon.  The night before all the balloons are inflated and staged on the streets of NYC under nets. Then when the team arrives, we take a quick group photo, and we all take hold of the ropes and officially launch the balloon.  Each balloon, depending on size, has somewhere between 75-100 people assigned to it. Once the balloon is up, we go over the signals again and are informed that we have perfect flying weather for the parade this year.  That means we can fly at max height. There are more people than ropes for each balloon.  This is in case of bad weather it may require more than one person per rope.  But, since conditions were perfect, I didn’t have a rope to hold on to start out.

I was absolutely ok with that.  I was still part of it. I was getting to walk in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! The parade starts moving and I’m at the back of our balloon.  A float joins behind us with country artist, Cole Swindell. Then we walk a little further and some clowns join the lineup and are now behind us. Then a full marching band joins. Let me just say, the coordination of everything to do with this parade is absolutely incredible. When you are trying to move that many people and get people to places on time, it truly is nothing short of a miracle.

The parade is now starting. There are thousands of people lining the streets and watching from buildings all along the route.  I walked along smiling and waving and loving everything to do with this experience. There were soooo many police officers throughout the parade route. I’ll be honest, I knew there were a lot of officers in NYC but I don’t think I fully understood how many until that day. We were making our way down the route and we made the turn at Columbus Circle and I kid you not, light snow started coming down.  Seriously, how could this get any better!?

Every so often we would have to stop and wait and during one of the stops, I hear my name! My two friends, Liza and Shawn, happen to be right where we stopped!  I couldn’t believe it.  My wonderful new friend assigned to the same balloon, tells me to run over and take a quick photo with them. (Photos were not supposed to be allowed. Shhhh, don’t tell, I broke the rules a couple of times.) Thousands of people on the streets watching the parade and I get stopped right next to my friends who had been sitting out on the sidewalk, freezing, and waiting for the parade since 5:30 that morning.

Then, I got to take over carrying the balloon for the second half of the parade. Since we had such great conditions, there really wasn’t much to it. We finished the route and made a turn down one of the alleys near the end of the parade route.  Now is when the impressive part comes in to play. As soon as we get in the alley, we bring the balloon down and immediately start deflating it. As it’s deflating, we are instructed on how to fold/roll the balloon and within a matter of minutes the balloon is placed in its storage container ready to be loaded on a truck that is waiting.  So much work and within 5-10 minutes, it’s like it never happened. We take off our costumes and place them on the racks and it’s all over. Everyone takes off in different directions and the next balloon comes down the alley to be deflated.

I walk back to our hotel and meet back up with my friends.  We gather our luggage and make our way to the airport.  We’re all flying to see family later that day. I never met Blake, the wonderful woman that helped me get this opportunity. I emailed her after and she got reassigned to a different balloon fairly last minute. I also regret not remembering the name of the wonderful woman from my team that was so kind to me.  I sure hope she was able to be a clown.

The people that put on the parade every year have to be the most meticulous planners in the world. There are no details missed.  The coordination is absolutely unbelievable. Thousands of participants. Everything from celebrities, to seasoned parade veterans, to newbie’s like me, and it goes off spectacularly. Major kudos to the people that do that. As someone that works in the event industry, I’m majorly impressed. 

I would love the opportunity to do this again. As it’s one of my proudest adventures.