Thursday, November 27, 2008

CrazyKelvin Rewind: Nov 27, 2002

In honour of today's Thanksgiving celebrations, we rewind back to when cK was living in New York City and attended the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

(Originally written: November 26, 2002 - you can see the original page here )

CrazyKelvin At the 2002 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!
If someone told me five years ago that I was going to be in New York City for the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I wouldn't have believed them. But now, I actually did it! CrazyKelvin was there!! I wanted to take my mischievous little cousins to it, but that meant waking up at 3am, so I could get on the 5:15am train to Manhattan. To my surprise, the little munchkins woke up and were very eager to go. Everyone warned me how cold it would be, so we walked with two blankets and wore layers of clothes. We arrived in Manhattan just after 6am and got a perfect spot directly in front of the Macy's Department Store avoiding the massive crowd that would later come when the parade commenced at 9am. We set up our little blankets right along the metal barriers and beside me there was a guy who looked like he was there about an hour before us. His name was Brent and was from a town outside of Detroit. This was his second time at the parade. Beside him, there were two cute girls from Bayonne, New Jersey named, Tracy and Rachel.

Our view was wayyy too good to be true. Eventually at 7am, some cops came and told us that we had to relocate because the space we were in was for people who bought tickets. So Tracy took charge and led our little group to a better location. We continued to walk until we found an empty space on the west side corner of Broadway and 40th Street. That's where we set up our blankets. Boy, if we didn't dress up in multiple layers, we would have froze to death. We were quite cold as it is, and began to feel our toes freezing while waiting for the parade to start. Slowly, more people came and there was a family that set up right behind us from Seattle, Washington. They had come to see their daughters perform in the parade. They were the fourth band in line. Brent, Tracy, Rachel and the family from Seattle made up the little group that would stick together throughout the parade.

It seemed like forever when this parade was going to commence. In the time we spent waiting, we all got to know more about eachother. I wish I took pictures of our little group, instead I finished two rolls of film on the people and balloons in the parade. Eventually around 9:30am the parade was underway and reached where we were. Floats and balloons and CLOWNS. There were so many clowns at that parade it was ridiculous. I definitely have respect for everyone who came out there to participate in the parade. It was so chilly and all just to wish everyone present a happy thanksgiving. Our group was sooo hyped up and cheered on everyone and every celebrity that passed. People like opera singer Josh Brogman, r&b singer Ashanti, Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin and so many more. When Josh Brogman came out, his float stopped right in front of our group and we all chanted, "SING JOSH SING!" He looked over at our group and "Milli Vanilli'd" to the song that was playing over the float's loudspeaker. It was very exciting and after so much shouting, I lost my voice by the end of the day. The parade was over around 11:35am. That's when you see Santa Claus coming on the last float. After waving to Santa and telling him that we've been good, our little group exchanged hugs and mentioned the idea of meeting at the same place again next year. If I had the digital camera that day, I'd have all the photos I took up for display right now. I totally recommend that everyone (if they can) go to a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at least ONCE in your life. Its much better being there than watching it on television.