Giant balloon characters, beware
Winds could see them grounded at Macy’s parade
NEW YORK — Bundle up, Spongebob.
New York City’s big Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will take place amid frigid cold and strong winds that could potentially ground the giant character balloons, which have caused mishaps and injuries in the past when gusts have blown them off course.
The police department is monitoring wind gauges along the 2½ mile parade route and will order the 16 helium-filled balloons to a lower altitude or removed entirely if wind speeds reach dangerous levels.
New York City issued an extreme cold weather alert for Thursday and urged anyone going outside to wear hats, scarves, gloves and layered clothing and to keep their fingertips, earlobes and noses covered to prevent frostbite.
The National Weather Service is projecting temperatures in the low 20s and sustained winds of up to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.
The iconic characters that soar between Manhattan skyscrapers will be grounded if sustained winds exceed 23 mph and gusts exceed 34 mph under city rules implemented after wind blew a “Cat in the Hat” balloon into a lamppost near Central Park, critically injuring a woman.
“If we have to call an audible on the day of and make an adjustment, we’ll do so,” Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison said at a briefing on the police department’s parade safety measures.
The NYPD will have thousands of officers stationed along the parade route. They include counterterrorism teams with long guns, plainclothes officers mixed in with the crowd and a new squad of K-9 teams that can sniff out explosives from a few hundred feet away.
Franky, a 6-year-old German shepherd, and three other explosive odor pursuit dogs are working their first Thanksgiving Day parade after impressing police officials at a trial run in New York City last winter. They’ll remain on duty even if the weather gets too rough for their giant balloon likeness: Chase, the police dog from Nickelodeon’s “Paw Patrol.”
All spectators will be screened with metal detectors at security checkpoints. Backpacks, booze and e-cigarettes are banned. Certain areas near the start and finish are off-limits or will have space taken up by staging for NBC’S live broadcast.