Talk: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Pink monster?

Who the heck is in this image, third window? It's partway between a Pestie and Baby Natasha. -- Zanimum 16:03, November 28, 2011 (UTC)

Elmo and Katie Couric in the booth

On the 85th anniversary special for the parade, which aired last night, there was an archival clip. Katie Couric says something about getting Elmo an agent, and Elmo quips "watch out, Mr. Lauer", hinting he might take over Matt's hosting gig. Anyone know when this would have been? There was no on-screen graphics for the year. I believe they said Matt joined the hosting crew in 1996. -- Zanimum 16:38, November 25, 2011 (UTC)

Also, a clip of Kermit and Piggy aired, not sure who they were with, and I only remember Piggy was taking offense at something. But Piggy's hair looked older than 2002. Hopefully someone can find a copy of the special, I didn't record it. -- Zanimum 16:40, November 25, 2011 (UTC)

Gonzo balloon

At least one editor on Wikipedia is claiming a Gonzo balloon will be in this year's parade? Anyone have confirmation? Powers 13:17, September 25, 2011 (UTC)

No. Kermit is scheduled to appear, as well as the Sesame Street float -- Nate (talk) 17:00, September 26, 2011 (UTC)

Nice photo of Kermit Ballon in '07

I have a favorite photo of the Kermit balloon from '07 that I bought from a certain news organization; you can view the picture here. I have no particular reason to add it to this page, except that it's different from the others and somehow poignant, in my opinion. Well, what do others think? Add it to the gallery, to the main images, or don't add at all?— Tom (talk) 02:36, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

I love it! I don't know how others feel about adding it to the gallery, but with all the awesome artsy additions around here lately, I think that a little photographic beauty won't hurt. Plus, the gallery has one more spot to fill for now, to be an even four images per every row (at least with my screen resolution settings, that is). Thanks for sharing! — Julian (talk) 13:47, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

Alright, Julian, you talked me into it! :)— Tom (talk) 14:58, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

Balloons and floats list

I fixed up the list of floats and balloons, standardizing the list so that every float and balloon appears for every year. In doing that, I made the assumption that once a balloon debuted, it continued to appear every year -- except for the Big Bird balloon, which might have been replaced by Abby Cadabby in 2007?

If I'm wrong about this, please correct the list... For example, I'm not 100% sure that the old Kermit balloon appeared right up to the year that it was replaced by the new balloon.

I also took the Babe balloon off the list. That balloon appeared in 1998 to promote Babe: Pig in the City, which didn't have any Creature Shop involvement. -- Danny (talk) 00:52, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Problem: Half of the list of the Sesame Street floats are showing. Should we do <br>? Webkinz Mania 01:09, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Oops! I messed up the ref tag. Thanks for spotting that, I fixed it! -- Danny (talk) 01:39, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Also, in the original list that I compiled in 2005, I had "Kermit and Miss Piggy on a float" listed in the 1994 parade. I now have no idea where that information came from, or what Kermit and Piggy might have been promoting in 1994. Anybody got an idea? -- Danny (talk) 03:23, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

The assumption that once a balloon debuted, it continued to appear every year afterwards is completly wrong. For example, the original Kermit balloon, which debuted in 1977 only flew 13 times before being retired (and I don't know if they were consecutive years of not) -- and even the new Kermit balloon which debuted in '02 has missed a year (if memory serves, I don't think he was in the 2005 line-up). And Super Grover has sat out of the 2007 or 2008 parades. I don't know the specifics about Big Bird, but he's been on and off too. -- Brad D. (talk) 04:34, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Cool, so I'm glad I asked. What sources can we use to verify the info? -- Danny (talk) 04:51, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Gah, you're right. I just looked at the press kits for the last couple years, and found that Super Grover didn't appear in '07 or '08 -- Abby Cadabby took his place. So... I'm going to start putting in sources for all the bits I can find, and other people can do the same, and then we can take out all the stuff that we can't source. -- Danny (talk) 07:04, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Okay, I just spent the night going through all the sources I could find, and putting together a 100% sourced list. It's obviously missing a bunch of stuff, though, so if anyone can help fill in some of the gaps, that would be great!

Also, there are a few Sesame Street appearances that I didn't have a source for, so I put a cite tag on them. -- Danny (talk) 09:26, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

This is a great page! You are making it better Danny and I hope it gets nominated! Anyway, should we take the Sesame Street floats to a deeper view and add all of the characters in each float. It may teach us something. Webkinz Mania 13:28, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Danny, would VHS tapes of parades serve as sources? Master of Macy's that I am, I know I have a great many years of parades on tapes batting around the house, and I can try and fill in holes where there are no sources if that is acceptable. -- Nate (talk) 17:14, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Nate -- that would be awesome! Video sources are great; we use that all over the wiki. I was being extra persnickety about references yesterday because I realized that I'd made incorrect assumptions and I wanted to make sure that I was getting everything right. Also I started having obsessive-wiki-boy fun with it. But yeah, if you've got parade tapes, bring 'em on. -- Danny (talk) 18:52, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

I nominated it for the Main Page. Anyway, should we make a section called Departs and Debuts since balloons came an went. Should we list all of the characters in each floats? This can get us deeper. Webkinz Mania 23:29, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Oh, sorry -- I meant to respond to you and then got distracted by responding to Nate. Yeah, I think it would be great to list the characters in each float. I'm not sure where it would fit best on the page, but if you want to start it, we'll figure it out! I think the debuts are handled pretty well right now by being in bold on the list of balloons and floats... -- Danny (talk) 23:55, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Do you want to support the article Danny? I nominated it earlier today! Webkinz Mania 00:04, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I was really pleased to see that! Thanks for the vote of confidence; I'm really enjoying working on this page. I haven't voted for it yet, just because I feel like we're still working on it, and there are a lot of gaps left to fill... but there's a lot of good stuff here now, and I'm proud of what we've got so far. -- Danny (talk) 05:29, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

I just wanted to throw my two cents in on "debuts" and "departures". I think departures are a little redundant. Some balloons are retired for other events as well. I don't have anything to back it up for the Muppet balloons, but Macy's would ship these balloons elsewhere for functions after they had been retired from the parade. They would appear at malls, and even Walt Disney World for awhile. I bring that up, because saying departed sounds as if the balloon was destroyed, never to be seen again. Plus it's also pretty clear if they aren't listed for a certain year, that they were not part of the parade. -- Nate (talk) 21:50, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree. On the page right now, we're just listing years that the balloon/float appeared (at least as far as we know so far), with the debuts in bold. We're not listing "departures" in any particular way, except in the text about the Kermit balloon, which was officially "retired" after a pretty spectacular blow-out in 1991. :) -- Danny (talk) 21:56, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Though maybe we should add notes (final year). (Final year) could say. Webkinz Mania 23:39, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Rollie Award: 1987 or 1988

Currently, the list of parade years says 1987 was when Kermit and Jim accepted the parade's award, for their continued participation. Willard Scott says it was 1988, in this clip, at 2:25 or so. -- Zanimum 16:01, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

The book Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade says 1987 for the Rollie Award. That's a pretty comprehensive, detailed book, so I would trust the book. -- Danny (talk) 21:19, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Also -- X-Entertainment.com has a review of the 1987 parade, including the clip with Henson and Kermit. -- Danny (talk) 01:46, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Swimming parade?

Willard Scott says in this clip (YouTube) that one year (pre-1991), the Kermit balloon was so heavy with rain, it looked like he was swimming down the parade route. Just thought I'd add this here, in case it can be of future use. -- Zanimum 15:24, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Ah, it's been added I see. -- Zanimum 16:35, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Sesame Street Float unknown date

Does anyone know the date for when this Sesame Street Float was in the Thanksgiving parade? I found this image in the book, A Big Year on Sesame Street. I have the the 1989 reissue one and I know this book was first issue in 1981. I know its somewhere in the 1970s this parade was in. — Rocket Stevo (talk) 08:01, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Before people ask me, just wanted to say I'm not sure (since Danny calls me the Master of Macy's). I too believe that this is one of the earliest Sesame Floats from the parade. -- Nate (talk) 18:03, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Fraggles

I presume no one has pics of this? -- Zanimum 17:45, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Added, although not very good quality. Also added some other pics. The years used for the image names are for the year the picture was taken, not their debut. Anyone know those dates? —Scott (talk) 06:25, 25 October 2007 (UTC)