Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, production of I Heart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff. Lauren vog obam here on the fourth Thursday
Speaker 1: of the month, the same day that most Americans gather
Speaker 1: around the dining table to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, The
Speaker 1: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade marches through the streets of New
Speaker 1: York City. Elaborate floats, giant helium balloons, marching bands, acrobats,
Speaker 1: and celebrities create a carnival esque atmosphere. For more than
Speaker 1: eighty years, the parade has drawn spectators who line the
Speaker 1: streets and cheer on the participants. Covering two and a
Speaker 1: half miles, the three hour spectacle runs from nine am
Speaker 1: to noon. The holiday event has grown and grown over
Speaker 1: time from a small parade of floats and live animals
Speaker 1: organized by Macy's employees into a large scale, annual tradition
Speaker 1: to this day. Though apart from performing talent, all other
Speaker 1: parade participants, such as balloon handlers, are Macy's employees and
Speaker 1: their family and friends. The parade showcases more than eight
Speaker 1: thousand participants and crowds. More than three point five million
Speaker 1: spectators cram Manhattan streets for a close up view. Another
Speaker 1: fifty million watched the parade on TV. So how did
Speaker 1: we get here? Macy's Department Store celebrates its sixty one
Speaker 1: anniversary in twenty nineteen. The store staged its first Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: Day parade in nine. That year, it was called the
Speaker 1: Macy's Christmas Parade, and it featured three floats pulled by horses,
Speaker 1: four bands, and zoo animals from these Central Park Zoo,
Speaker 1: including camels, donkeys, elephants, and goats. Santa Claus was last
Speaker 1: in the lineup, a tradition that continues to this day.
Speaker 1: It was all staged by and at the request of
Speaker 1: Macy's employees, many of whom had just emigrated to America
Speaker 1: from Europe and longed to celebrate their new home. In seven,
Speaker 1: the gigantic balloons that are now the signature element of
Speaker 1: the parade made their first appearance. With the help of helium.
Speaker 1: The balloons replaced the zoo animals that were frightening to
Speaker 1: some children, and the first balloons included cartoon characters like
Speaker 1: phil Cat. At the conclusion of the parade, the giant
Speaker 1: balloons were released into the air. In nineteen twenty eight,
Speaker 1: Macy's began offering a one dollar reward for any returned balloons,
Speaker 1: which were fixed with the return address label. In nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty one, pilot Colonel Clarence E. Chamberlain snagged a balloon
Speaker 1: with his airplane's wings, leading to a ban on retrieval
Speaker 1: by airplanes. The following year, and after the nineteen thirty
Speaker 1: two parade, another pilot attempted to capture a balloon and
Speaker 1: nearly crashed, leading Macy's to discontinue releasing the balloons. At
Speaker 1: the parade's end. In nineteen thirty four, celebrities became an
Speaker 1: important element of the parade, but singer actor Eddie Canter
Speaker 1: joining the event that year. The Mickey Mouse helium balloon
Speaker 1: was also introduced to that year to parade goers. From
Speaker 1: nineteen forty two to nineteen forty four, the parade was
Speaker 1: canceled because of the shortage of helium and rubber during
Speaker 1: World War Two. Those three years are the only time
Speaker 1: that the celebration has ever been called off. When the
Speaker 1: parade returned in nineteen forty five, it was broadcast on
Speaker 1: television for the first time and was bigger that our
Speaker 1: lear versions, but the floats didn't achieve their current spectacle
Speaker 1: status until nineteen sixty nine, when one Manfred Bass began
Speaker 1: creating them. Bass designed them so that they could be
Speaker 1: flattened for their trip through the Holland Tunnel. They were
Speaker 1: then reassembled during the pre dawn hours of the parade. Today,
Speaker 1: Macy's begins planning for the parade at least a year
Speaker 1: in advance, and includes float and balloon creation, celebrity booking,
Speaker 1: volunteer coordination, and training for clowns and balloon handlers. As
Speaker 1: the parade grows closer, the preparations get more intense. In
Speaker 1: nineteen Macy's is celebrating its ninety third parade with twenty
Speaker 1: six floats, sixteen giant helium character balloons, and forty heritage
Speaker 1: and novelty balloons and eleven marching bands. But let's talk
Speaker 1: about those balloons. In a former Tutsi roll factory in Hoboken,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, just across the river from New York City,
Speaker 1: the balloons are created by the Macy's Parade Studio. It
Speaker 1: all starts with the pencil sketch. Aerodynamic and engineering consultants
Speaker 1: assist with calculations to make sure the balloon will fly properly.
Speaker 1: Exact scale replicas, one made out of clay and one
Speaker 1: a painted model are fashioned before the actual balloon is
Speaker 1: cut out of fabric. Each balloon has several chambers and
Speaker 1: includes a zipper, an inflation device, and a high pressure valve.
Speaker 1: Flight inflation and deflation tests are run and cosmetic adjustments
Speaker 1: are made. Finally, the balloon can appear in the parade
Speaker 1: up to a year after the process began. Balloons these
Speaker 1: days are constructed of polyurethane, though they used to be
Speaker 1: made of rubber. Since the switch from air to helium,
Speaker 1: these behemouth balloons have coasted along with a big dose
Speaker 1: of help from volunteer balloon wranglers, but it hasn't always
Speaker 1: been that easy to keep the balloons afloat. In nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty eight, the balloons were filled with air and hoisted
Speaker 1: by cranes onto trucks due to a helium shortage and
Speaker 1: poor weather conditions kept the balloons from being inflated at
Speaker 1: all in nineteen seventy one. The balloons dimensions vary, but
Speaker 1: most are about five to six stories high and somewhere
Speaker 1: around sixty feet long and thirty feet wide. Each balloon
Speaker 1: needs around ninety handlers. In all, there are around two
Speaker 1: to three thousand balloon handlers for the parade. These handlers
Speaker 1: must weigh at least a hundred and twenty pounds and
Speaker 1: be in good health. Of those, only a few hundred
Speaker 1: team leaders are required to attend training, though all are invited.
Speaker 1: Training includes lessons on aerodynamics, geometry, and physics. Then volunteers
Speaker 1: practice handling one of the big balloons on a field.
Speaker 1: The team leaders include an overall leader, pilot, captain, and
Speaker 1: two drivers. A police officer marches with each balloon. The
Speaker 1: handlers hold the ropes to guide the balloon, and each
Speaker 1: balloon is also tethered to to eight hundred pound utility vehicles.
Speaker 1: Instruments that measure the speed of wind, called anemometers I think,
Speaker 1: are mounted on poles at key points along the route,
Speaker 1: and each one is monitored with a portable computer by
Speaker 1: a police officer and a New York City Office of
Speaker 1: Emergency Management representative. Well before the parade begins, objects that
Speaker 1: could obstruct balloons, including arms of lamp posts, traffic signal polls,
Speaker 1: street lights, and trees, are either altered or remove On
Speaker 1: the eve of the parade, the balloons and floats are
Speaker 1: brought to New York City and set up begins by
Speaker 1: six am on Thanksgiving Day, the balloons and floats are
Speaker 1: ready to go, and parade participants take their places for
Speaker 1: the nine am parade start. After the parade, floats are
Speaker 1: immediately disassembled, balloons deflated, and all are returned to their
Speaker 1: warehouse in Hoboken. Today's episode was written by Kathleen Seiler
Speaker 1: Neary and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. For more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other well coordinated topics, visit
Speaker 1: our home planet, how stuff works dot com, and for
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