EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (1010 WINS) – Macy’s unveiled its new giant character balloons for this year’s 93rd annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Hundreds of handlers helped at Saturday’s practice run at the Meadowlands. The balloons were topped off with helium and tested in the air.
Some of the five new balloons are revamped designs of characters previously in the parade.
“Snoopy and SpongeBob are classics that have been in the parade before,” said John Piper, vice president of production for Macy’s Parade Studio. “In fact, Snoopy holds the record—this will be his eighth different design.”
Astronaut Snoopy is a nod to Apollo’s 50th anniversary. And now SpongeBob has his sidekick Gary attached to him.
“SpongeBob is joined by his friend Gary this year,” Piper said. “The snail is actually riding on his back, so he’s sort of a combination of two giant balloons.”
Other new balloons include Sam and Guy from Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham.”
The parade’s executive producer, Susan Tercero, says there’s so much more planned for the parade.
“We have 26 floats; we have 11 bands; a thousand clowns. Lots of activity on that day,” she said.
