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Actually, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade officials are a little more worried about the weather. Ever since an incident in 1997 where a balloon (Gothamist believes it was the Cat in the Hat) knocked over a lamppost and hit parade watchers, leaving one woman in a coma for a month, parade officials have consulted with meteorologists about parade day weather, and tomorrow is expected extremely windy. In fact, balloons are to remain grounded if gusts go over 34 MPH or sustained winds are above 23 MPH. The NY Times speaks with parade organizer Robin B. Hall, who "would prefer to focus on Chicken Little, SpongeBob SquarePants and M&M Chocolate Candies, the newest additions." The Times article also has a lot of great factoids about the balloons and parade (500 clowns!).
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade starts tomorrow morning, but the balloon blow up is today, from 3-10PM, at West 77th and 81st Streets between Columbus and Central Park West (near the American Museum of Natural History); Gothamist went last year. And here's information from the City about where to watch the parade (we're fond of being inside, picking at the stuffing).
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FYI -- The balloon that knocked over the light pole was Sonic the Hedgehog. Since that year, they have better training for the "handlers" and they take wind measurements at the breezy street corners!
500 clowns?!?! ...really? 500??!!
sounds like the number 1 reason to stay away. (um, scary.)
"The huge Cat in the Hat balloon got away from its handlers and slammed into a lamppost, raining debris down on spectators. Kathleen Caronna, 35, suffered a fractured skull in the accident and was in a coma for nearly a month."
from a cnn article in 1998 (the year after)
Emily was right also:
"In 1993, winds caused the 64-foot tall Sonic the Hedgehog to crash into a lamppost and explode. The falling debris injured an off-duty police officer and a 10-year-old girl."
I found this article in, of all places, Lubbock Online.
The 1998 incident is more relevant, because the new wind/balloon restrictions were put in place after that incident. If I recall correctly, this was a good thing as there was talk of doing away with the balloons altogether. One change that is not often noted is that the balloons now also have size restrictions. My (admittedly faulty) memory tells me that they had to retire several balloons since they were now too large.
Anyhoo, it was a great night to be out. Very warm, no rain, minimal wind at most. The kids were having fun, the adults too, and more cameras then you could shake a stick at.
Check out the balloons in waiting via flickr
I *heart* flickr.
i too believe the 1998 accident was the one that caused more changes. my cousin and i actually worked the 1999 parade on the rugrats balloon (she worked for macy's and their employees are encouraged to work on the parade) and she was telling me about all the training they had to go through as she was a balloon captain.