The stars of the Thanksgiving Day Parade are taking shape on the Upper West Side, as Macy’s is inflating balloons that will appear in Thursday’s parade.
Hundreds of people are braving the cold and the rain to catch a glimpse of their favorite characters, which are changing from empty rubber shells to helium-filled floating balloons.
The balloons are weighed by sand bags and covered by nets.
Officials are optimistic that the weather will be good enough Thursday for all of the balloons to fly.
The balloons won’t fly if sustained winds exceed 23 miles per hour or gusts exceed 34 miles per hour.
“Those numbers that I gave you, if there’s something that I see that I don’t like, I can say ‘Lower the balloon’ and I can say ‘Remove the balloon,’” said Daniel Mulligan, a deputy inspector with the New York City Police Department. “I think, really, that the latest reports that we’ve got from the National Weather Service, I think we’re going to be in good shape tomorrow.”
The parade route starts at 77th Street, goes down Central Park West, and then shifts over to Sixth Avenue, heading down to 34th Street. It ends in front of Macy’s.
Whether the balloons fly or not, there will be floats, marching bands and 900 clowns to entertain all of the 3.5 million spectators that are expected to line the parade route.
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=18028
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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