Story at a glance
- The much-loved balloons of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade haven’t always been successful in their annual battle against lampposts and strong gusts of wind.
- Deflating balloons have wounded onlookers multiple times in the parade’s nearly 100-year history.
- Some balloon characters have been wounded themselves.
For some, the best part about Thanksgiving is spending time with loved ones or eating their favorite fall treats without counting calories. For others, it’s a procession of inflatables the size of three-story buildings through some of Manhattan’s most recognizable streets.
Thousands of spectators are expected to crowd the city’s sidewalks on Thursday to watch this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade after a mostly audience-free parade in 2020, which spanned just one block. Millions more will be watching from their homes.
While this year also marks the return of in-person performers, the nearly century-old parade wouldn’t be nearly as loved without its giant balloons.
But those balloons haven’t always been appreciated by everyone.
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In the late 1920s, when the balloons first appeared in the Macy’s parade a handful of years after the first parade in 1924, the helium-filled inflatables were cut loose following the procession, where they would deflate naturally. A monetary reward was offered for their return.
In 1931, a balloon modeled after the cartoon Felix the Cat was ensnared in a high-tension wire after its handlers let it go, almost immediately bursting into flames. The following year, a Tom Cat balloon floating over Queens nearly resulted in the death of a young aviator when she flew directly into it.
Macy’s officially ended its tradition of releasing balloons in 1932.
Still, parade balloons have continued to wreak havoc on crowds, and on a rainy Thanksgiving Day in 1957, a giant inflatable Popeye the Sailor Man soaked onlookers after his cap, filled with rainwater, was tipped by handlers.
Strong winds in 1993 sent a 64-foot-tall Sonic the Hedgehog balloon careening into a street lamp, tearing open its eye. As it deflated, the Sonic balloon took the street lamp down with it, injuring a man and a young girl.
Disaster struck again on another windy Thanksgiving Day in 1997, when the Barney the Dinosaur balloon met a violent end after being torn open by a street lamp. Police officers then swarmed the balloon as it deflated, stabbing it with knives to release the remaining helium. The Pink Panther balloon was also stabbed that year.
But the worst tragedy of the disastrous 1997 parade, dubbed the “Great Balloon Massacre,” came when the “Cat in the Hat balloon, also taken down by a street lamp, fell into the crowd below, injuring four people and putting one woman in a coma for a month. She later won a multimillion-dollar settlement in a suit against parade organizers and New York City.
Balloon-related incidents became more rare after 1997 when Macy’s tightened handling regulations, but a sudden gust of wind in 2005 sent the M&Ms balloon into a light pole in Times Square, showering the crowd with broken glass.
A balloon in 2008 bumped into the booth where NBC Today anchors Al Roker, Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer were covering the parade, briefly knocking them off the air.
Six new balloons will debut at this year’s parade. You can read more about them here.
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