WEBVTT - How Does Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, production of I Heart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Lauren vog obam here on the fourth Thursday

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<v Speaker 1>of the month, the same day that most Americans gather

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<v Speaker 1>around the dining table to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, The

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<v Speaker 1>Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade marches through the streets of New

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<v Speaker 1>York City. Elaborate floats, giant helium balloons, marching bands, acrobats,

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<v Speaker 1>and celebrities create a carnival esque atmosphere. For more than

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<v Speaker 1>eighty years, the parade has drawn spectators who line the

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<v Speaker 1>streets and cheer on the participants. Covering two and a

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<v Speaker 1>half miles, the three hour spectacle runs from nine am

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<v Speaker 1>to noon. The holiday event has grown and grown over

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<v Speaker 1>time from a small parade of floats and live animals

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<v Speaker 1>organized by Macy's employees into a large scale, annual tradition

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<v Speaker 1>to this day. Though apart from performing talent, all other

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<v Speaker 1>parade participants, such as balloon handlers, are Macy's employees and

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<v Speaker 1>their family and friends. The parade showcases more than eight

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<v Speaker 1>thousand participants and crowds. More than three point five million

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<v Speaker 1>spectators cram Manhattan streets for a close up view. Another

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<v Speaker 1>fifty million watched the parade on TV. So how did

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<v Speaker 1>we get here? Macy's Department Store celebrates its sixty one

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<v Speaker 1>anniversary in twenty nineteen. The store staged its first Thanksgiving

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<v Speaker 1>Day parade in nine. That year, it was called the

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<v Speaker 1>Macy's Christmas Parade, and it featured three floats pulled by horses,

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<v Speaker 1>four bands, and zoo animals from these Central Park Zoo,

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<v Speaker 1>including camels, donkeys, elephants, and goats. Santa Claus was last

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<v Speaker 1>in the lineup, a tradition that continues to this day.

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<v Speaker 1>It was all staged by and at the request of

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<v Speaker 1>Macy's employees, many of whom had just emigrated to America

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<v Speaker 1>from Europe and longed to celebrate their new home. In seven,

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<v Speaker 1>the gigantic balloons that are now the signature element of

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<v Speaker 1>the parade made their first appearance. With the help of helium.

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<v Speaker 1>The balloons replaced the zoo animals that were frightening to

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<v Speaker 1>some children, and the first balloons included cartoon characters like

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<v Speaker 1>phil Cat. At the conclusion of the parade, the giant

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<v Speaker 1>balloons were released into the air. In nineteen twenty eight,

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<v Speaker 1>Macy's began offering a one dollar reward for any returned balloons,

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<v Speaker 1>which were fixed with the return address label. In nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>thirty one, pilot Colonel Clarence E. Chamberlain snagged a balloon

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<v Speaker 1>with his airplane's wings, leading to a ban on retrieval

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<v Speaker 1>by airplanes. The following year, and after the nineteen thirty

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<v Speaker 1>two parade, another pilot attempted to capture a balloon and

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<v Speaker 1>nearly crashed, leading Macy's to discontinue releasing the balloons. At

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<v Speaker 1>the parade's end. In nineteen thirty four, celebrities became an

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<v Speaker 1>important element of the parade, but singer actor Eddie Canter

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<v Speaker 1>joining the event that year. The Mickey Mouse helium balloon

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<v Speaker 1>was also introduced to that year to parade goers. From

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen forty two to nineteen forty four, the parade was

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<v Speaker 1>canceled because of the shortage of helium and rubber during

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<v Speaker 1>World War Two. Those three years are the only time

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<v Speaker 1>that the celebration has ever been called off. When the

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<v Speaker 1>parade returned in nineteen forty five, it was broadcast on

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<v Speaker 1>television for the first time and was bigger that our

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<v Speaker 1>lear versions, but the floats didn't achieve their current spectacle

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<v Speaker 1>status until nineteen sixty nine, when one Manfred Bass began

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<v Speaker 1>creating them. Bass designed them so that they could be

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<v Speaker 1>flattened for their trip through the Holland Tunnel. They were

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<v Speaker 1>then reassembled during the pre dawn hours of the parade. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>Macy's begins planning for the parade at least a year

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<v Speaker 1>in advance, and includes float and balloon creation, celebrity booking,

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<v Speaker 1>volunteer coordination, and training for clowns and balloon handlers. As

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<v Speaker 1>the parade grows closer, the preparations get more intense. In

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen Macy's is celebrating its ninety third parade with twenty

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<v Speaker 1>six floats, sixteen giant helium character balloons, and forty heritage

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<v Speaker 1>and novelty balloons and eleven marching bands. But let's talk

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<v Speaker 1>about those balloons. In a former Tutsi roll factory in Hoboken,

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<v Speaker 1>New Jersey, just across the river from New York City,

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<v Speaker 1>the balloons are created by the Macy's Parade Studio. It

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<v Speaker 1>all starts with the pencil sketch. Aerodynamic and engineering consultants

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<v Speaker 1>assist with calculations to make sure the balloon will fly properly.

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<v Speaker 1>Exact scale replicas, one made out of clay and one

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<v Speaker 1>a painted model are fashioned before the actual balloon is

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<v Speaker 1>cut out of fabric. Each balloon has several chambers and

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<v Speaker 1>includes a zipper, an inflation device, and a high pressure valve.

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<v Speaker 1>Flight inflation and deflation tests are run and cosmetic adjustments

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<v Speaker 1>are made. Finally, the balloon can appear in the parade

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<v Speaker 1>up to a year after the process began. Balloons these

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<v Speaker 1>days are constructed of polyurethane, though they used to be

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<v Speaker 1>made of rubber. Since the switch from air to helium,

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<v Speaker 1>these behemouth balloons have coasted along with a big dose

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<v Speaker 1>of help from volunteer balloon wranglers, but it hasn't always

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<v Speaker 1>been that easy to keep the balloons afloat. In nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>fifty eight, the balloons were filled with air and hoisted

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<v Speaker 1>by cranes onto trucks due to a helium shortage and

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<v Speaker 1>poor weather conditions kept the balloons from being inflated at

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<v Speaker 1>all in nineteen seventy one. The balloons dimensions vary, but

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<v Speaker 1>most are about five to six stories high and somewhere

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<v Speaker 1>around sixty feet long and thirty feet wide. Each balloon

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<v Speaker 1>needs around ninety handlers. In all, there are around two

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<v Speaker 1>to three thousand balloon handlers for the parade. These handlers

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<v Speaker 1>must weigh at least a hundred and twenty pounds and

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<v Speaker 1>be in good health. Of those, only a few hundred

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<v Speaker 1>team leaders are required to attend training, though all are invited.

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<v Speaker 1>Training includes lessons on aerodynamics, geometry, and physics. Then volunteers

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<v Speaker 1>practice handling one of the big balloons on a field.

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<v Speaker 1>The team leaders include an overall leader, pilot, captain, and

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<v Speaker 1>two drivers. A police officer marches with each balloon. The

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<v Speaker 1>handlers hold the ropes to guide the balloon, and each

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<v Speaker 1>balloon is also tethered to to eight hundred pound utility vehicles.

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<v Speaker 1>Instruments that measure the speed of wind, called anemometers I think,

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<v Speaker 1>are mounted on poles at key points along the route,

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<v Speaker 1>and each one is monitored with a portable computer by

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<v Speaker 1>a police officer and a New York City Office of

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<v Speaker 1>Emergency Management representative. Well before the parade begins, objects that

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<v Speaker 1>could obstruct balloons, including arms of lamp posts, traffic signal polls,

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<v Speaker 1>street lights, and trees, are either altered or remove On

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<v Speaker 1>the eve of the parade, the balloons and floats are

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<v Speaker 1>brought to New York City and set up begins by

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<v Speaker 1>six am on Thanksgiving Day, the balloons and floats are

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<v Speaker 1>ready to go, and parade participants take their places for

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<v Speaker 1>the nine am parade start. After the parade, floats are

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<v Speaker 1>immediately disassembled, balloons deflated, and all are returned to their

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<v Speaker 1>warehouse in Hoboken. Today's episode was written by Kathleen Seiler

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<v Speaker 1>Neary and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. For more

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