Thursday, or Thereabouts - November 24, 2016

I love a Parade ...

And Macy's sure knows how to make a great one. Their Thanksgiving Day Parade is nothing short of an extravaganza featuring song and dance from the latest hits on Broadway, eye-popping floats, marching bands and those iconic flying balloons.

High school marching bands never really caught on in Canada. Might it be that the winter was a huge deterrent? I noted that many if not all of the bands I saw today came from the more southerly states; the ones where snow, ice and temperatures below zero would be described as extreme events with all the apocalyptic adjectives one can muster.

For five months of the year, a marching band in these parts would have to be plumped up with layers upon layers of clothing, shod with heavy winter boots including ice-grippers, and carrying instruments bundled up in burlap winter tree wrap. And wearing tuques (there have to be tuques - we are Canadian eh?). Picture that. Yeah, well perhaps that is why high school marching bands are not a Canadian tradition. Climate warming might change all that...

And those amazing helium filled balloons? They only sporadically appear in parades here. Too many overhead wires here? Too much wind? Even a parade in late November in the big apple is a risky weather proposition. Today it was 6°C (43°F) under partly sunny skies and winds high enough to keep the flags flapping but low enough to let the high flying characters fill the air.

Here are my favourite characters and floats:

Some 10,000 volunteers brought us the music, song and dance acts, and the myriad of floats that all lead up to the grand finale, the entrance of emerald and golden sleigh bearing the jolly old elf himself, along with Mrs. Claus.

This is New York City at her best - colourful, fun, spirited and proud with EVERYBODY working together.
It's enough to make anyone shout,

"I believe!"

Imagine that wide-eyed joyful anticipation bubbling through your veins. Now hold on to that moment for as much of this day as you can. Ignore the merchandising fury that has already begun to take over the airwaves and the i-waves; shun, for just an hour, the feeding frenzy that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have on offer.

Come, be a kid again, amused and amazed, curious and hopeful.

 "With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."

 (Max Ehrmann: Desiderata 1927)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family, friends and readers.

©2016 April Hoeller