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Posted: Nov 25, 2021 / 6:17 am CST
Updated: 11/25/2021 / 6:28 AM CST
Police pass an inflated Grogu helium balloon, also known as Baby Yoda, from the Star Wars show The Mandalorian on Wednesday, November 24, 2021 in New York as the balloon prepares for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday . (AP Photo / Ted Shaffrey)
NEW YORK (AP) – The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, handicapped by the coronavirus pandemic last year, returns in full on Thursday, albeit with precautionary measures.
Balloons, floats, marching bands, clowns and performers – and of course Santa Claus – will once again meander through the 4-kilometer-long streets of Manhattan instead of being restricted to one block or sometimes being banded for the last year.
Spectators who were blocked in 2020 can line the route again. High school and college marching bands from across the country were re-invited to the line-up; Most of the artists last year were there to reduce travel. The giant balloons that were tied to vehicles last year are getting their costumed handlers back.
“The last year was obviously symbolic. It wasn’t everything we would have wished for in a parade, but they kept it going, ”Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference on Wednesday. “This year the parade is back in full force.”
“It will be a great sign of our rebirth,” he added.
The Thanksgiving Parade is the latest U.S. holiday event to make a comeback as vaccines, familiarity, and sheer frustration made officials and some of the public more familiar with large gatherings amid the ongoing pandemic.
Nevertheless, the security measures continue. Parade workers and volunteers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 and wear masks, although some singers and performers may take them off. There is no mandatory vaccination for spectators, but Macy’s encourages them to cover their faces. A popular pre-parade spectacle – inflating the giant balloons – was restricted to vaccinated spectators.
The Thanksgiving event also comes days after an SUV driver plowed through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing six people and injuring over 60. Authorities said the driver, who was charged with willful homicide, sped away from police after a domestic argument.
De Blasio said Wednesday there was no credible, specific threat to the Thanksgiving Parade, but the New York Police Department security measures would be extensive as usual.
“I am very confident of what the NYPD has prepared to protect everyone tomorrow,” he said.
Thousands of police officers are assigned to the parade route from streets to roofs. Cars are blocked off the parade route with sand-filled garbage trucks, other heavy vehicles, and approximately 360,000 pounds (163,000 kilograms) of concrete barriers.
Bomb detection dogs, bomb squad officers, heavy weapons teams, radiation and chemical sensors, and over 300 additional cameras will also be deployed on the parade route, said Martine Materasso, chief of terrorism for the NYPD.
Inside the barricades, the parade consists of about 8,000 participants, four dozen balloons of various sizes, and two dozen floats.
The new balloon giants include the title character from the Netflix series “Ada Twist, Scientist”; the Pokémon characters Pikachu and Eevee on a sled (Pikachu has already appeared in a different form) and Grogu, aka “Baby Yoda”, from the TV show “The Mandalorian”. New cars are coming from companies ranging from spice maker Heinz to NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service to the Louisiana Office of Tourism.
Entertainers and celebrities include Carrie Underwood, Jon Batiste, Nelly, Kelly Rowland, Miss America Camille Schrier, the band Foreigner and many others. Several Broadway musicals and the Radio City Rockettes will also perform.
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