One of my favorite Thanksgiving Day memories is of course, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
As a child growing up in New York City, the Macy’s Parade was just a subway ride away. I can’t exactly remember at what age I saw my first parade. But I do remember sitting on my father’s shoulders, looking over his head, with my legs dangling down. Almost every year, we would go into Manhattan to see the parade. Afterwards, we would look at the decorated Macy’s windows. Then we would head home for dinner. I didn’t know then, that later in life I would become involved in the parade.
In the early 80’s, I was with a woman who was a senior executive at Macy’s in the Herald Square store. She also was one of the executives that ran the parade. Naturally, for several years, I had a ticket to watch the parade at Herald Square, where NBC broadcasted the parade. It was fun, but it was cold sitting there for four hours. She said next year she would get me a job in the parade. That was okay, but didn’t want to be a clown, or a balloon holder.
So, I became a celebrity escort. This is how it worked. A limo would pick me up at my apartment downtown. Then take me to where my celebrity was staying. I had to have the celebrity at their float by 7AM. Once the parade started, the limo took me to the store, where I waited for my celebrity. Then I escorted them to the luxurious party the president of Macy’s threw for the senior executives, and all the parade celebrities. Then it was back where the celebrity was staying, and a limo ride home. I worked three years for the parade. My celebrities were, the “Tramps,” a singing group, from Philadelphia. “Linda Ronstadt,” who was performing on Broadway. The last was, “Sha Na Na,” the entire group, which required two limos. Now that’s what I call a parade assignment.
Here’s an interesting bit of trivia. During the depression, after the parade was finished, Macy’s allowed all the balloon’s to be let loose, and fly away. People who brought back the balloons were given a monetary reward. Of course, back then the balloons were much smaller, and the air traffic around New York was probably minimal. That’s a nice touch.
