Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Someone Had to Build the Giant Mushrooms for the Candy Forest

Thanksgiving Day is upon us, and with it the long-running Macy’s Day Parade (The parade began in 1924, making this year its 99th!). The parade has always been a spectacle; at times magical, at times cinematic, at times misfortunate (see balloon mishaps, via CNN), but always iconic. I grew up, like many, both watching the parade on television and sometimes live. One really special year my Dad booked a hotel room and took my siblings and I to watch the balloons and give my mom some room to prepare for Thanksgiving. I never realized what a smart move this was until now, especially since there were four of us ages 1-7 at the time.

Anyway, the parade’s spectacle has always been front and center that sometimes it’s hard to remember the level of artistry involved as well. New York Magazine’s Curbed recently wrote about Macy’s Studio and the makers and artists who bring the parade to life, 1 fake cherry at a time.

In the era of Amazon and Alibaba, a surprising amount of what you see at the parade is made from scratch; Carnivale told me that she tried to purchase fake cherries for the tree on the Timothee Chalamet–fronted Wonka-themed float she’s working on but couldn’t find any that were big enough to be seen by gathered crowds on Sixth Avenue, 28 million viewers at home, and Hoda and Savannah dancing in a little booth. She made 80 of them at a rate of about five per day.

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