The One About That M&M Float

Thanksgiving is home to many familiar traditions. There are feasts of turkey, games of football, family conversations, and the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sadly, the parade did not go completely smoothly. At first, event organizers were skittish about holding the parade at all, due to high winds in New York City. But they later decided that the show must go on, delighting thousands of children everywhere.

That is, until about the end of the parade, when the M&M balloon's tethers became entangled on the head of a street lamp and knocked part of it off, causing it to fall into the crowd. Two people were injured as a result. The two, a 26-year old girl and an 11-year old girl, were rushed to the hopsital, and both are in stable condition.

In 1997, two people were seriously injured after a "Cat in the Hat" balloon was forced into a metal pole by 45 mph winds. It's not officially clear if wind was the key factor in this year's accident. But chances are, yeah, it played a factor! Elsewhere in the parade, the big friendly purple dinosaur Barney sprung an air leak. But to keep things in perspective, the parade WAS at least 95% succesful, and we are very grateful for that.