Police have tightened security around the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade following mass shootings elsewhere in the country, though stressing that there is no known credible threat to the famous event itself.
The holiday tradition, which draws crowds of attendees and onlookers, comes this year two days after six people were killed in a shooting at a Virginia Walmart, and four days after another shooting killed five at a gay nightclub of Colorado Springs.
Also over the weekend, a man who allegedly threatened to attack a synagogue was arrested in Penn Station with a knife, a balaclava, a swastika patch on his arm and an associate, according to authorities.
In light of these developments, police “will deploy additional resources to ensure that celebrations across the city are safe for all,” New York Police Department counterterrorism chief Martine Materasso said at a news conference. giant balloons from the parade. She said authorities had no indication of “any active, credible or specific threat” to the event.
By now the security measures are almost as well known as the parade itself. They include heavy weapons teams, explosive sniffing dogs, a bomb squad, radiological and chemical sensors, drone detection, sand trucks and jamming vehicles, and additional cameras on the course.
Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette has vowed that this year’s parade will be “bigger and better than ever,” to the point where it will start at 8:45 instead of 9, to welcome all the balloons, floats, marching bands, singers, cheerleaders, clowns, cast of Broadway and Radio City Rockettes. And, of course, Santa Claus.
New balloons this year include animated sensation ‘Bluey’, Stuart the one-eyed Minion from ‘Despicable Me 2’ and new green dinosaur balloons and ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’.
The largest characters reach 21 meters in length and have 50 manipulators holding their strings, Matt Kaprielian, who supervises the balloons, explained in an interview as they were inflated.
Seeing them up close was “a dream come true” for the young Sophia Correa Perea.
“They’re huge,” he said.
