• 2 days ago
Director of Production Operations for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Kathleen Wright, spoke with AccuWeather about preparations for the iconic parade that has been around for almost 100 years.
Transcript
00:00millions of Americans start their holiday with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
00:06Now, this year marks the 100th year of the parade.
00:10Yes, the first one was in 1924.
00:14Oh, so exciting. Kathleen Wright is the director of production operations for the parade.
00:21Thank you so much for joining us. 100 years, that's exciting.
00:26Yes, we're so excited.
00:27We've been marching since 1924, but we're actually celebrating our 98th parade this year.
00:33Our 100th march will be in 2026, but we're still so, so excited.
00:37This is going to be a great parade.
00:38All right. Well, that makes sense. Thank you for informing us of that.
00:41Well, what's new with this year's parade and what should we look for?
00:45This year's parade is so exciting.
00:47We have so many new and fun elements.
00:50We have six new giant character balloons, including Minnie Mouse and Spider-Man.
00:55There's something for everyone.
00:57We have seven new floats in the parade, a beautiful new one by Bronx Zoo,
01:02which is going to feature a performance by Idina Menzel.
01:05There's so many fun performances. We have T-Pain.
01:08We have The Temptations. Like I said, truly something for everyone.
01:12And we cannot wait for everyone to tune in and watch on Thanksgiving morning.
01:16Well, fortunately, there's been good parade weather recently,
01:19but what is the most difficult weather to overcome?
01:23Is it the rain, the snow, or is it the wind?
01:28We are prepared for everything on Thanksgiving morning.
01:31We have different parameters for flying in different wind conditions.
01:34We work very closely with city agencies on how we fly our balloons.
01:39If we do have higher winds on parade morning,
01:41we're able to lower and raise the balloon based on the real-time current wind conditions.
01:46So we keep an eye on those, but the parade does march on rain or shine.
01:51All of our floats are weatherproofed.
01:53They use a special paint and a special hard coating
01:56so that we can make sure that we are still delivering the fun on parade morning.
02:00Wow. So many of those weather details that go into that, and you guys certainly sound prepared.
02:04We've been seeing them on your screen. Massive character balloons.
02:07It's a favorite parade feature.
02:09How did that tradition begin, and how many handlers does it take to control each helium balloon?
02:17Our first balloon was actually in 1927 with Felix the Cat,
02:23and we've continued that tradition since then.
02:25It takes about 5,000 volunteers to produce the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
02:30and help us march on Thanksgiving morning, and 2,000 of them are in our balloon program.
02:36There are 90 balloon handlers on every single giant balloon,
02:41and I think they have the most fun on Thanksgiving morning.
02:45And what are you looking forward to most in this year's parade?
02:52This year's parade is so much fun.
02:54I really do think that we're going to have the best Thanksgiving yet.
02:58I am most excited for the starting line of the parade.
03:01When that confetti pops and we say 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, let's have a parade.
03:06That's my favorite moment, but I think that the marching bands this year are fantastic.
03:11There's just so much fun and energy and excitement in this year's parade,
03:16and I'm excited to see all of it.
03:18You got me excited.
03:19Can't wait to see it myself.
03:20Incredible.
03:21Kathleen Wright, Director of Production Operations for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
03:25What an important job.
03:27Thank you so much for joining us on Accurately Early.
03:30Thanks for having me.

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