The Macy's Studio, which produces all the floats and balloons for the parade in Moonachie, invites local kids as a kind of test run ahead of the big day.
MOONACHIE -- About 500 students got an early look Tuesday at the new floats coming to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The Macy's Studio, which produces all the floats and balloons for the parade in Moonachie, invites the kids as a kind of test run ahead of the big day.
"It's the ultimate litmus test for what we do," said Amy Kule, executive producer of the parade.
The new floats this year include the King's Hawaiian "Aloha Spirit," which includes a running waterfall with a confetti-spewing balloon, the Krazy Glue "Fun House," with a spinning living room (though the furniture stays stuck to the floor) and "Deck the Halls" by Balsam Hill, which has a moving carousel and a three-story tall Christmas Tree.
Ten-year-old twins Taylor and Tyler Douglas, both members of the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore, were especially interested in the Girl Scouts' "Building a Better World" float, decorated with various Girl Scout badges.
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Third graders from Memorial Elementary School in Little Ferry also got a tour. Francesca Quinn, a third-grade teacher, said the timing for the trip was apt: She had just taught her students about Tony Sarg, a German-American puppeteer who helped invent the giant parade floats that are now a staple of the parade.
"They were excited to see the story come to life," Quinn said of her students.
The preparations are nearly complete for the parade. A team of 26 full-time workers at the studio balloons to 40 starting in the fall, but starting at 6 a.m. the day before the parade, hundreds of volunteers join in to help inflate balloons, assemble floats and dress and apply makeup to the 4,000 people performing in the parade.
All the floats, even those reaching more than 30 feet tall and stretching two highway lanes wide, are designed to fold up to fit through the Lincoln Tunnel before they reach the parade start on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Many of the volunteers have taken part for 20 years, said John Piper, vice president of Macy's Studio.
Piper spends Thanksgiving in a golf cart making sure everything works, so he doesn't always get to see whether the work of the past year has been a success.
"But when I'm there and a balloon pulls across an intersection and I hear the roar of the crowd," he said, "I have an idea that we've probably done OK."
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.