DOWN BUT NOT OUT
After wind scare, balloons fly low to ground in Macy’s parade
NEW YORK — The beloved balloons flew, but lower than usual, in a windy Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after an anxious weather watch.
Wind threatened to ground the giant inflated characters. But officials announced less than an hour before Thursday’s start that the balloons could fly, if in a down-to-Earth way.
As the parade continued — even while city emergency officials sent out a public alert about wind gusts — handlers struggled with some giant balloons and pulled them close to the ground. Meanwhile, winds did keep giant balloons out of Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
The Macy’s parade balloons might have been lowered, but Susan Koteen’s spirits weren’t. She has traveled from Florida, three years in a row, to see the parade.
“We love it. Because it’s exciting, it’s patriotic, and it just — it warms your heart,” she said.
Spectators lined up a half-dozen deep along the route on a gusty fall day, with leaves and confetti swirling in the wind.
A “Green Eggs and Ham” balloon joined the lineup, Smokey Bear returned for the first time since 1993, and spectators got to see new versions of Snoopy and SpongeBob SquarePants.
A smaller new balloon, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s “Love Flies Up to the Sky,” and two starshaped balloons ultimately didn’t make the lineup because of tears and stress from inflation before the parade, Macy’s said. A giant Ronald McDonald balloon also tore before the parade and was pulled out midway through, the company said. The McDonald’s character had a visibly deflated leg.
Macy’s spokesman Orlando Veras hailed “a fantastic event despite these minor challenges.”
During the middle of the parade, the wind was 13 mph with gusts up to 32 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
City rules require balloons to be grounded if sustained winds exceed 23 mph and gusts exceed 34 mph. The balloons have been grounded only once for weather-related reasons, in 1971.
On Thursday, in a windy spot near the start of the 2½mile route, a Nutcracker balloon knocked into a handler, who fell down but continued along. A Grinch balloon touched some trees as it passed a corner, drawing an “ooh!” from the crowd.
To paradegoer Kate O’Connor, the wind was “scary, especially around the corners — they’re like wind tunnels.”
It was still cool to see the balloons up close, “but they’re really meant to be seen from underneath,” said Ms. O’Connor, who comes to the parade every other year with daughter Megan, 8.
The parade features about 8,000 marchers, two dozen floats, entertainers and marching bands and ends with an appearance from Santa Claus.