The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will feature some new characters this year, including Pokemon and The Mandalorian characters.
After a two-year pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is returning.
This weekend there was a private event to test some of the balloons, called BalloonFest, showcasing one of the newest balloons - Grogu or “baby Yoda” from The Mandalorian.
“It's sort of the culmination of our balloon development process. So we go from our early designs, to our fabrication to our internal testing,” said Macy's executive producer Will Coss.
“And this is the opportunity for us to bring the balloons outside so our expert crew can run through some cases and get a sense for how it's going to react in real world environments and just get prepped for parade day."
The parade will go from Manhattan's Sixth Avenue down to 34th Street in front of the retailer's flagship Manhattan store. "We've got 10 marching bands. We have 15 giant character balloons, we've got 20 floats,” Coss said.
The nationally broadcasted event will feature other new characters in addition “baby Yoda,” including two new Pokemon balloons, Pikachu and Eevee, in honor of the series’ 25th anniversary.
