Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
While many of us are tuning into the 99th Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on NBC, the Caimano family of Queensbury, dressed in matching coveralls, will be helping guide Snoopy down Sixth Avenue.
“We’re on the Beagle Scout Snoopy balloon, the most iconic balloon in the parade,” Matt Caimano tells The Chronicle.
Ironically, the only immediate family member not on the ropes is Ross’s twin sister Abby, who actually works for Macy’s. (See story below.)
Grandparents Nick and Barbara Caimano will watch on TV, Barbara tells The Chronicle. “I’m so excited,” she said when she tipped us to this family adventure.
Matt recalls, “Abby basically said, ‘Hey, …would you be interested? And we were like — ‘Um. Yeah.’”
“I just can’t imagine what it’ll be like to turn onto Sixth Avenue with millions of people on the sides of the street. Just to see that sea of humanity, and I’m out there in the middle of it….”
He laughs that Judy will likely be in tears but “I’m not sure I won’t get all choked up, too. How much bigger can you get than that?”
In all, says Matt, 60 people handle each helium-filled balloon. He emphasizes: “60, six-zero,” plus extras to rotate in as backup. “It was like a little community,” he says, with many folks returning for as many as 10 years.
“It’s like old friends getting together. We were new, but everybody was so super nice. There was always somebody that had experience to answer all your questions. They worked laps on the field, “learning how to turn, how to raise and lower the balloon, how to go around obstacles, if there’s potholes or something.”
They learned that wind is a serious factor especially at intersections. Also tricky, the three turns they will make along the 2.5-mile route from Central Park West on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, to the viewing area at Macy’s flagship store on Herald Square.
“It’s a lot of work,” Matt said. The key is a unique double-U-shaped handle called a “bone.” Matt says, “You’re holding it at about chest level, with tension on it, obviously, because the balloon’s up in the air the whole time you’re walking.
“As you’re going, the pilots will say, ‘We need to raise it five turns and — 1-2-3, Go’ — as one everybody counts it out: ‘1-2-3-4-5,’ and we raise it, or lower it, then we raised the front but lowered the back, all sorts of different moves.”
Members of the pilot team will use wind gauges at the intersections to direct how to proceed safely.
Each balloon has a captain, Matt said, “and multiple pilots that instruct the handlers what we need to do. It’s really an incredibly well-orchestrated thing. I was blown away by it.” So to speak.
For extra ballast, each balloon is attached at its center to a utility vehicle. “Even with 60 people, you still need that to keep us all from flying away,” Matt laughs.
He says they were told, “Rain or shine, we march. That’s the slogan.”
Daughter Abby prepared them, “This is a giant televised event. Everything is choreographed down to the second. You know when you are supposed to cross in front of Macy’s at the big grandstand. You need to be there at a certain time.”
Matt says, “To coordinate that with thousands of volunteers and giant balloons and floats — all that is unbelievable to me.”
The family will report to their first staging area at 5:55 a.m., to don the costumes they’ll wear, theirs themed to Snoopy.
“It’s like a coverall or jumpsuit with identical hats, gloves and spats for your shoes, so everybody under the balloon looks identical.”
If you’re looking for the family on the NBC broadcast, Matt laughs, “There’s no chance you’re gonna see us. Even if they show the handlers, we all look the same.”
The parade ends just a block from the Macy’s viewing stand, Matt said he learned. The balloons stop, floats are taken apart, costumes turned back in.
“You go to a place where there’s a tarp laid out, you deflate your balloon right onto the tarp, help roll it up, and then off you go.”
If attending the parade is a bucket list item, Matt says, “Being in the parade? Who would be arrogant enough to even put that on a bucket list? It wasn’t on mine until I got invited, and now I’m like, Hell yes, it is now.”
Qby theater kid Abby Caimano parlays it into a dream job as Macy’s designer
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Abby Caimano, a 2020 Queensbury High School grad and former local “theater kid,” says her interest in backstage work led to a dream gig at Macy’s.
“No one goes to school thinking they’re going to be working on the Macy’s parade,” Abby says.
“Just to see how all of these special trades come into play, seeing everyone’s different backgrounds come together and create something really fun and just magical that is such a tradition for millions of people across the country is really inspiring. I’ve just been so thrilled with my time here.”
Her job so far has been prepping the parade behind the scenes.
But she says that on parade day she’ll work with “the talent” — guest performers including hip-hop star Busta Rhymes, Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo, K-Pop duo EJAE, classic R&B band Kool and the Gang, country’s Lainey Wilson, and about two dozen others.
Her job? “Trying to make sure everyone who’s performing that day has a great time at the parade — and also gets where they’ve got to be on time.”
As part of the “experiential team,” Abby says, “We do a lot of planning for along the route, making sure everyone who comes to watch the parade in person has a great experience.
“We’re finalizing all those plans right now, the design of the hospitality experiences, trying to give (spectators) the most magical experience we can,” including “fun surprising delights along the route.”
She also helped paint the new Mario balloon — based on the Super Mario game. “That was such a cool experience to see how everything’s put together. The studio team is just full of fantastic fabricators and artists.”
The shaped balloons are hand-painted while inflated, in a large warehouse, using Macy’s own paint formula, flexible for the balloons, “developed over 99 years of parades.”
Abby says, “I started out performing from a young age, worked through high school on every school musical, every community theater I could. In high school, I started appreciating the design of it all and the backstage.”
She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, for Communication Design, “which gave me a really good Graphic Design foundation.
“After my Bachelor’s degree, I went back to FIT and did a degree in Spatial Experience Design,” which Abby says covers “everything from set design to retail store design, window displays, both the hands-on fabrication and also the planning, design and strategy that goes into all of this.
“It just so happens, that really lined up with a career doing the Macy’s parade.”
Abby spent three seasons with the Adirondack Theatre Festival in Glens Falls — two during college plus the summer after — one year as an intern and two on the production staff.
At Macy’s, besides the parade, she’ll help with other “tent pole” events including the company’s annual immersive flower show in spring, and its signature Fourth of July Fireworks in New York.
Abby advises other theater kids, “Truly try to delve into what is the most exciting to them. Just learn all that you can and keep going with it,” whether that’s the performance side or backstage.
“Finding your area and just putting your all into it has done great things for me. Pursuing the arts is always a great idea. I didn’t realize this is possible, this avenue. Something that I’ve really learned is there are plenty of opportunities. There’s ways to be creative in your career, and in your life.”
Anything else? Abby urges, “Everyone should tune in to NBC on Thanksgiving Day and watch the show.”
The stats: Macy’s ‘Snoopy’ balloon
Macy’s says Snoopy is the parade’s “longest-running character balloon.”
This version debuted in 2023 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Beagle Scouts, the fictional troop led by the canine Scoutmaster “and his best friend Woodstock.”
It’s one of 34 helium-filled balloons in this year’s parade, including four newcomers: Buzz Lightyear, Derpy Tiger, Shrek’s Onion Carriage and Mario.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade airs on NBC (WNYT Channel 13) Thursday, Nov. 27, 8:30 a.m. to noon.
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