{"id":47,"date":"2004-11-26T11:56:09","date_gmt":"2004-11-26T19:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2004\/11\/2004_macys_thanksgiving_day_parade.html"},"modified":"2004-11-26T11:56:09","modified_gmt":"2004-11-26T19:56:09","slug":"2004_macys_than","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2004\/11\/2004_macys_than.html","title":{"rendered":"2004 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday was the 2004 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade<\/a>, which we viewed from the tenth floor of Five Times Square.<\/p>\n

The Times surveyed the scene from the street<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Soft mud squashed underfoot, idle breezes wafted into open windows, and an estimated 2.5 million spectators who lined up along Central Park West and Broadway basked in a 64-degree morning that felt more like early May than late November.<\/p>\n

After all the hand-wringing that wind gusts might ground the giant, helium-inflated balloons, the parade turned into one of the most placid and postcard-perfect in years.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More of the postcard:<\/p>\n

As usual, the Technicolor convoy began creeping through the Upper West Side around 9 a.m. and reached Herald Square around noon. It was led this year by a helmet-wearing Super Grover, the impish Sesame Street character.<\/p>\n

Barbie characters sang, and Broadway actors plugged their musicals. Rock-faced marching-band leaders high-stepped by. Celebrities waved. Dancers grinned. Children in the Dakota apartment building pressed against the windows to get a better look.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even more postcard:<\/p>\n

Strangers took photos of one another, posed in front of giant floating turkeys. Kids played catch in the street, families planned afternoon football games, and a homeless man on 72nd Street sipped from a large Starbucks cup.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And last but certainly not least, the signature Times sociological longview:<\/p>\n

The parade’s patriotic tone in the years after 9\/11 had been subsumed by exultant commercialism.<\/p>\n

The parade’s 59 balloons included M&M’s candies characters, Ronald McDonald and the game icon Mr. Monopoly. As they floated past, children waved and called out “SpongeBob!” and “Pikachu!” to get the balloons’ attention.<\/p>\n

When less-commercial floats and generic turkey and elf balloons passed by, the crowds applauded politely, like parents at a mediocre piano recital.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In all, a day to remember!<\/p>\n

Oh, and about that Pikachu thing:<\/p>\n

\"Pikachu,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday was the 2004 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which we viewed from the tenth floor of Five Times Square. The Times surveyed the scene from the street: Soft mud squashed underfoot, idle breezes wafted into open windows, and an estimated 2.5 million spectators who lined up along Central Park West and Broadway basked in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-manhattan","category-the_new_york_times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}