The evening before the annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, New Yorkers and tourists gather to watch the famous helium balloons get inflated. From Hello Kitty to Spider-Man, its a gigantic balloon feast.\r
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Hello Kitty, Spider-Man, Charlie Brown -- theyre all gathered on the same New York City block for this years Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade.\r
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New Yorkers and tourists watch excitedly as the famous balloons are inflated for tomorrows procession.\r
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The balloons have been part of this famous parade since 1927 and take up two full city blocks.\r
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After theyre inflated, nets and sandbags are used to keep the balloons from escaping into the night.\r
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Macys likes to point out that the balloons arent just about artistic design, but also aerodynamics and engineering. The Macys balloon team works along with independent consultants to create each balloons aerodynamic design.\r
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One of the giant balloons, Julius Paul Frank was inflated by a team of workers as the crowd looked on.\r
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The Executive Producer of the parade says, like every year, there will be some new faces tomorrow.\r
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[Amy Kule, Executive Producer, Macys Thanksgiving Parade]:\r
Every year we have something brand new and this years no different. Weve got three amazing new balloons that are going to be debuting tomorrow (Thursday November 22) on Thanksgiving. Weve got The Elf on the Shelf going to be in the parade for the first time, Papa Smurf the grandfather of all smurfs is going to be flying high. And leading the parade this year is Hello Kitty flying in her own biplane. So its going to be a fantastic parade and the balloons are only part of the story.\r
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This years parade will include 16 giant character balloons, 40 medium sized balloons, 26 floats, 1,000 clowns, and approximately 1,200 dancers and cheerleaders.\r
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The annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade is widely seen as the largest Thanksgiving Day celebration in the United States. Some 3.5 million spectators are expected to watch it live and more than 50 million viewers virtually.\r
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