Turkey, Stuffing, and Miss Piggy?

Turkey, Stuffing, and Miss Piggy?
The Boscov’s Thanksgiving Parade takes place the Thursday of Thanksgiving at 8:15 every year no matter the weather. It could be raining, or snowing, or maybe sunny; whatever the case, the show must go on! The parade begins at 20th and Market and continues down Market until it reaches 15th street. The parade then takes a turn onto Arch and finally down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
This may not seem to be the most exciting event for college students, and I know it is not at the top of your to do list, but I promise it is worth your time. If you are not from the area and are not going home for the holiday you should definitely consider attending. What else will you really be doing at 8 in the morning besides sleeping? This is not a valid excuse. You can sleep any other time you want. This is one of the events you can take part in and actually get a feel for the city of brotherly love. Just be forewarned, if you are indeed going to embark on this popular activity, make sure to dress accordingly for you will be standing outside for a while.
As you many have guessed, the parade is a very old tradition in Philadelphia. It may not seem to be a big deal for those who are not from Philadelphia or New York, but to the natives, it is a HUGE deal! It may be just as big of a deal as the actual holiday. The parade is known as the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade in the country. The original name of the parade was Gimbels’ Thanksgiving Day Parade, after the old department store. Ellis Gimbel, the founder of the department store, dreamt that everyone would shop at his store for their holiday presents. He knew this would not just magically happen so he made a plan. He instructed his employees to dress up and go out to the streets on Thanksgiving day to attract customers; therefore creating the first Thanksgiving Day Parade. When Gimbels shut down, Boscov’s continued the tradition.
The popularity of the parade has increased each year and is shown every year on WPVI. It is also broadcasted to other stations throughout the United States as well as on the worldwide web. You are guaranteed to see the most spectacular balloons, floats, live music, and other performances at the parade each year. The highlight of the parade is the finale. Children beg their parents each year to attend and anxiously watch the whole time just for the end of the parade. This is when Santa arrives for the first time of the season.
The parade has the same basic setup every year, but I assure you, it never gets boring. The parade is not one of those things that you can say, “If I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it a million times.” The show is a different experience every year you attend. The parade opens every year with a few floats. As soon as the first float is seen, they entire crowd goes wild. It is hard to explain what an amazing feeling it is to see these floats in person. It is hard to grasp how large they actually are. After the floats have started their route, there is a performance. These performances can range from young ballerinas to popular musicians. You never know what you will get, but they are always entertaining. More floats and balloons are the next things to appear in the procession. There is then another break for more performances. They usually save the most extravagant floats and best performers till last. After all the floats and performances are done, it is time for Santa to come. Each year Santa Claus walks down the Art Museum steps and boards his float to finish out the parade. As you can imagine, this is the long awaited event of the parade. After all these years I didn’t think it would be as exciting as it once was. However, I must admit, I even found myself getting excited to see Santa. When you see him for the first time, the feeling you use to get when you were little comes back, and you cannot help but smile. At that moment in time, nothing could be more important than waving to Santa.
This year, I woke up early Thursday morning and got dressed for a long day. Being a Philadelphia resident for my entire life, attending the parade had become a tradition of mine. I know longer think about Thanksgiving without the parade. Since I had been attending for many years I hurried to get my favorite spot. I personally think a good spot is right outside the Philadelphia Art Museum . All the performances take place at the bottom of the Art Museum steps.. If you stand here you get a good view of the floats and the performances. I stood there with my family and friends and anxiously waited for the parade to start. This year the weather was beautiful, so there was no need to cuddle for warmth. There is no better feeling than standing in that crowd of people. I don’t think I can think of many other times in my life when almost everyone around me was happy. As you scan the crowds all you see is smiling faces. There are people of all ages and races. There are families with children as well as elderly couples all there for the same purpose; to see the parade. Everyone is friendly so don’t be scared to turn around and say happy holidays to your neighbor.
There were some new, old, and redesigned balloons and floats this year. The new balloons were a cornucopia, holiday presents, Alvin Chipmunk, Penguins, Wizard, Santa Garfield, and my personal favorite Paddington Bear. I was very excited that they brought back the Miss Piggy balloon. It was always a favorite of mine. They also brought back T-Rex and the Cow Jumped over the moon and redesigned Curious George (which was adorable). The new float this year was called Under the Sea, High School Musical on Ice. This was the first time that a float had an ice skating rink on it! It was cool to see people actually ice skating on the float as it went down the street. There are also different performers that come each year. This year Keke Palmer, Josh Gracin, Anwar Robinson, Bianca Ryan were there. The cast of High School Musical on Ice also performed on their float and the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders helped to entertain the crowd.
I really think that this is something that people of all ages and interests can enjoy. I know this may not be something a college student would normally consider attending, but I think it is at least worth trying. It is a time to be around your loved ones as well as strangers and still feel at home. This is something that could help you feel at home if you are feeling homesick away at college. You will most definitely get in touch with your inner child. And just think about it, with all the food and people it is like a huge party in the middle of the day!