The time is hither… The greatest, most extravagant, most dangerous time of the year, Thanksgiving! Some may say that nothing tops December because of Christmas, but those people do not understand the true beauty of November. What makes November so hype you may ask? To that I have one word, the Macy’s Day Parade. This Parade means more to me than you will ever know. It’s not just a celebration; it’s a devastation. The Macy’s day parade has seen hundreds if not thousands of fails, in its 98 years of running. These failures are the reason I live, the reason I am who I am, these failures are everything to me. So without further ado, it’s time for epic Macy’s Day Parade fails part two. 

   In last year’s Macy’s Day Parade article, I held back on the fails that I covered. I didn’t bring what needed to be brought. This time, we are going deep into the failures. I’m going to talk about some failures that were not even documented, but I saw them with my own two eyes through the screen. Starting with the first fail, the devastation of Shelby. Shelby was a girl who was a part of a dance crew that performed during the 2012 Parade. I’m not entirely sure what dance team she was a part of, but I remember she was wearing blue. If you’ve ever watched the Macy’s Day Parade, you’d know that during these dance routines, the camera gets close ups on some of the dancers to add some spice to the performance. This routine was full of dancing close ups, including close ups of Shelby. During Shelby’s performance, she was heaved up into the air by her fellow dancers. The plan was for the dancers to catch her, which to give them credit, they tried, but gravity was working extra hard to ensure that Shelby fell to the floor. The camera caught the whole thing. I still hear the cries from my Grandma when she witnessed the fall of Shelby, “Shelby’s down!” she cried, yet there was nothing anyone could do to save her. But, since it’s the Macy’s Day Parade, the show must go on! After the camera shot Shelby’s fall, the dancers just kept on dancing. After doing some deep, deep research I found out that Shelby’s only injuries from the fall were minor bruises, the real suffering came from the jokes she will hear for the rest of her life because of it. In an interview, she revealed that she was able to crawl away from the dance floor unnoticed after her massive tumble. When asked why she didn’t just get up and keep dancing, she said that she couldn’t pull herself together in time to continue the routine. That is the devastating story of Shelby’s tumble. 

    Now, it’s time to take it back to some ancient fails, we’re talking about the rip of 1933. Andy the Alligator was a balloon that used to float in the parade. His float was actually kind of cute. Andy was just an average alligator. It is said that he was a one hundred feet long balloon, the longest inflatable the Parade has ever seen. Not only that, but Andy hissed. He had a built in sound box that hissed when the wind picked up. With all of this going for him, how on earth could this gator rip? Well, since you really want to know, I guess I can tell you although it is going to be tough since it was an emotional event. This poor gator was gracefully flowing through the wind on that November morning in 1933. Since he was so large, it took twenty five people to handle him. Things were going good, and he had already made it down four streets without issue. As he floated through the streets, he suddenly began to elevate. This is not unusual for floats to raise and lower depending on the wind, but this was no ordinary raise. The people holding his strings attempted to yank him down but Andy kept soaring. A few string holders were hoisted into the air with Andy. It was a complete embarrassment to the Macy’s Day Parade. Kids all across America watched in disbelief as that green gator boosted into the air. Nobody was prepared for what would happen next. As Andy the Alligator rose, the force of people trying to pull him down caused him to rip in half. He was torn in two. It was the biggest devastation the parade had ever witnessed. It was tradition to release the balloons into the sky when they completed the parade, so they prematurely released Andy. When he eventually exploded in the air and fell to the ground, his rubber was retrieved and was used to help soldiers in World War II. 

    Since the last fail was very long, we are going to speed run some fails. If you read last year’s edition of Macy’s Day Parade fails, you’d be familiar with the tragedy of The Cat in The Hat. He was not the only inflatable to strike a lamppost and cause injury. Here are all off all of the balloons that struck a lampost during the parade: The Cat in the Hat, Sonic the Hedgehog, Barney the Dinosaur, A large M＆M, Spongebob Squarepants, Dudley the Dragon, Ronald McDonald, Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer and Uncle Sam. These balloons fell victim to slamming into a lightpost. You’d think that the people that run the parade would have learned their lesson to not put the inflatables anywhere near a light post, but they continuously put them next to each other. 

 As I mentioned earlier, The Macy’s Day Parade used to release the balloons into the atmosphere after the parade. This caused so many issues. Imagine walking down 5th avenue, and you look up to see an obese MandM floating towards a skyscraper. One instance is when they released a cheetah inflatable after the parade. The cheetah soared high into the sky. There was a one-hundred dollar prize if you could retrieve the balloons after they were released. A group of young men decided that they were going to fly in an airplane to try to “catch” the balloons. That is literally impossible because how do you catch an inflatable when you are in a plane? As they flew, the boys spotted the cheetah. They flew near it and what do you know, it got tangled in their propellers. The plane began to spiral, which resulted in it crashing. The boys were fine, and they got their one hundred dollars. After this incident, Macy’s banned their “let it go” policy. How awesome would it be if they never got rid of the “let it go” policy, they could’ve let go Elsa. 

    So, there’s a pop that I’ve been avoiding, and it also has to do with the “let it go” policy. Back in the old days, there were a lot of farm animals that floated in the parade. In this instance, the inflatable was a cat. At the end of the parade, the cat was released into the ozone layer. Before it got there, it struck a power line which caused it to burst into flames. The cat balloon was unrevivable. 

    In 2012, there was an incident between Uncle Sam and Spiderman. The night before the parade the “walkers”, aka the people who hold the strings, get the balloons ready for the parade the following morning. This is when all of the balloons are inflated. Uncle Sam and Spiderman had just been inflated and Spiderman seemed to really like Uncle Sam. Lets just say, the two balloons got very close and people went crazy on social media. Spiderman will never be looked at the same. Look up a picture of the incident if you want to see it because I’m not explaining any further. 

    The weather during the parade is always the determining factor on whether of not the inflatables are flown or dragged. One year, the wind was so hectic that the floats were flown approximately  seven feet off the ground. The walkers had to be very careful when dragging the balloons since they get very close to hitting their heads during windy conditions.  A superman balloon was featured in this windy parade. He was flown approximately 10 feet off of the ground. As the wind fluctuated, his height did as well. A huge gust of wind made super man jolt up and then slam down in one foul swoop. This resulted in superman ricocheting into multiple walkers. They were knocked to the asphalt, but did not receive any severe injuries. That same superman float popped five years later, so to that I say karma. 

  Sadly, we have come to the end of the annual epic Macy’s Day Parade fails. I was able to cover a lot more fails this year, mainly because I took a deep dive into failures that are not as known. I’m heading to Florida to see my family for thanksgiving, and I am so hyped to watch the parade again. The anticipation of not knowing what will pop next is why I look forward to it every year. 

https://macysthanksgiving.fandom.com/wiki/Accidents_and_Injuries