Location: The Museum Of Science And Industry
Date: Saturday, November 9, 2013; 7:45-11:00 am
I am a member of the ‘Chicago Fun Volunteers’ Meetup group
and months ago an opportunity showed up to volunteer at the ‘McDonald’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’ in
Chicago. Having heard of the iconic
parade in New York City; a couple of years ago I got up early on Thanksgiving
morning and went to catch a glimpse of the parade on State Street in Chicago. Unfortunately I was stuck behind the crowd
and couldn't see much other than the giant balloons in the air.
This time, there was an opportunity to not only be in the parade, but to
also be one of the balloon handlers. How
cool was that! There were many different
roles, but once I saw the balloon handler one, there was no question what I
would be requesting. I submitted my application and a few months went by till
one day I received an email that I had been selected and indeed, I would be a
balloon handler. Yes, I had done a
parade before, but this one was different.
It was a nationally televised event on one of the most celebrated
holidays of the year. Yeah, I had come a
long way.
The first order of business was
to attend a training session which they had termed as “balloon school”. This was a
mandatory requirement for all balloon handlers and I had been receiving an
email from a guy called Tillman for days leading up to the school. He also asked if I wanted to come help paint
the street on Monday of the Thanksgiving week, something that I declined. Besides attending the balloon
school, we were required to volunteer at the school and so were called in at
7:45 am on a Saturday morning. I arrived
and was directed inside to the check-in area where I found Tillman and asked how I could be of assistance. Initially he thought of sending me out to
help direct people, but there were more than enough volunteers who were already
doing that and so I was sent to the auditorium to wait. There were several people who were already
there, including a lady who was calling herself “Elmo” and chatting with everyone, while occasionally bursting into
a song.
 |
| 'Tweety Bird!' |
There was indeed a lot of waiting
and finally at 8:30 am, a lady came and said that she was looking for some
volunteers to help out with the balloon inflation. I jumped at this opportunity and went outside
to see a giant yellow thing that would eventually inflate into the ‘Tweety Bird’. I saw a group of people holding ropes
and as I approached the bird, I was told to choose a rope and hang on for dear
life. A lot of cylinders were being
employed for inflating the bird and one gentleman was in charge of regulating
the flow. It was extremely windy outside
and it was proving to be a challenge to maintain a proper grip on the rope as
the bird expanded. There were several
experienced balloon handlers as well as the man from the balloon company to
guide novices like me. As the balloon
inflated, I was to loosen the rope and walk backwards. Once the bird was completely inflated, we
were to walk forward and stand directly beneath our anchor point, where the
ropes were tied to the balloon. It was
taking a long time to inflate and it became more difficult to control the
balloon with the wind, especially as the bird grew taller. In fact, the balloon guy said that if the day
of the parade dawned with heavy gusts, there would be no balloons in the
parade. Now that would definitely be a
bummer.
 |
| He was finally up |
Finally the bird had been fully
inflated and most of the anchors had been tied to sandbags. I went back to the auditorium to await
further instructions. The program
commenced with opening remarks from the organizers, followed by a police
officer who went over the safety and emergency procedures on the day off the
parade. After some time, I and 90 others
from “Balloon Group B” were asked to
go back outside for training. We were
split into 3 groups of 30 each and I was assigned to Group 1. I grabbed hold of a rope, untied it from the
sandbag and grasped it tightly. We had
been told to not wrap the rope around our hands as that can lead to potential
accidents. Once all 30 people in my
group had got hold of a rope, we did various exercise like walking, lowering,
raising, turning etc. The balloon guy
from the company was like a drill sergeant leading us in a drill, but was a
terrific tutor. The wind was playing
havoc and it was one the most difficult things that I have done while having the most fun at the same time.
 |
| And away |
We handed the ropes to the next
group of 30 and I watched them for a bit as they practiced. Next to me was a gentleman who has functioned
as a balloon handler before and he was telling me that it was important to get
the right position on the balloon. I thought
that this was so as to get a good grip, but it was for the TV cameras. During the parade the TV cameras are placed
on the right side of the road and so everyone who is a handler on that side of
the balloon has a good chance of ending up on TV. I said that I would try to remember that so
as to get my 15 seconds of fame. The
hands-on training part was done, but there was still orientation to be had and
so once again, I went back into the auditorium as “Balloon Group A” left for their handling exercises. One of the organizers got on stage and for
the next 20 minutes told us about what to expect on the parade route. He said that it was his 10th year
with the parade and he had started off being a volunteer like us. He said that in total there would be 12
balloons in the parade and some of them were brand new. Other than the wind, the balloons would be in
the parade, come rain or snow. So we
were to dress appropriately and be prepared to face the elements. There were a few questions, most on rope
handling and I learned that some of the experienced handlers usually got a homemade
roller like contraption around which they rolled the rope, which makes
it easier when slack is required.
The orientation was at an end and
we were free to leave. However, we had
also received museum passes for the day and this being one of my favorite visitor
spots in Chicago, I decided to explore for a few hours. There was a special ‘Walt Disney’ exhibit that was currently on and having grown up
reading Disney comic books and with my love of the animated movies, I was
delighted at this opportunity. I even
attended a drawing class where I and several others were taught how to draw a
perfect “Mickey Mouse”. As I read the history on how Disney had
started his empire, one thing became clear. Despite the enormous financial
success that he achieved; Disney’s main intention was to bring joy to millions –
young and old alike. There is a similar
feeling that a giant balloon evokes amongst everyone. I
have never seen anything but a smile on people’s faces when they see a balloon
in a parade or at any other venue. And I
was going to be able to carry one of those – in one of the year's premiere events for our city. Never in my life
had I imagined that a day like this would come.
But then I had always thought that my life would take a different
direction. That’s what makes every day
so interesting, and Thanksgiving Day 2013 would be one such occasion.
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