Thanksgiving Parades

I went to the Portland Macy Thanksgiving parade the Friday after Thankgiving. It was much like last year's parade, tough shorter. I think some units, mostly live animals like reindeer and horses, were not in it because of rain possibilities being so highs. Oh well, the Llamas made it again. What funny looking animals they are. They make me look like a movie star. They are also gentle beats. I had a short conversation with one of the trainers of the Llamas in the parade and she told me there are 30 or so breeders of them in the states of Oregon and Washington. The Llamas that were in the parade were from several breeders, who donate the use of the Llamas to kids with learning disabilities and terminally ill kids. the Llamas interact very well with those kids, she said.

Unlike New Orleans parades this one was low key and the expectations are not to put on an ostentatious show. Rather it is, short in duration, sedate and simple. I like this parade, which is why I made an effort to see it in a light mist that came over it from time to time. Besides the parade, being in the downtown area reminds me that Portland is a charming city. It has been voted as America's most beautiful city more than one year. The downtown is small, like Manhattan, and user friendly because it is walk able and has a nice range of commercial enterprises.

Some people hate parades, and the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in New York City is perhaps the biggest in the U.S. I remember watching that on TV Thanksgiving morning as a kid. It was a part of Thanksgiving then and I still catch at least a glimpse of it on TV every Thanksgiving Day. That parade was originally started not by the store, but rather by the employees of Macy's. they called it a "christmas Parade". When the Macy's store saw how popular it had become they took it over in the early 1920'2. Before the end of the 20's they introduced the famous Macy's parade helium balloons.

They all burst until re designed. at the end of the 20's. It must have been amazing to see those balloons explode in the sky, but then. Thanksgiving parades are always laid back affairs where exploding parade balloons must have seemed normal enough to almost be part of the show.

Anyway, since the parade is long over, this is probably more than you want to know about parades. I'll finally shut up now.