Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade: Hudson Valley celebs, new balloons add to iconic event

With a wide-ranging lineup that includes Jimmy Fallon, Whoopi Goldberg and Papa Smurf, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade will have something for just about everyone.

Fallon, who grew up in Saugerties, and his "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" house band, the Roots, again will be a part of the parade itself, this time aboard the Gibson guitar float, whose six oversized strings are made of bungee cords.

The actor and comedian has spent much of the past week talking about Thanksgiving on his show. In addition to encouraging fans on Twitter to suggest jokes using the hashtag #NewThanksgivingSongs, he used the parade as the subject of his weekly "Pros & Cons" segment.

"Pro: The parade includes over 900 clowns. Con: So does your extended family."

Additional Hudson Valley trivia: Two of this year's hosts, the "Today" show's Matt Lauer and Al Roker, once called Westchester County home. Lauer spent his childhood in Chappaqua, Ardsley and Hartsdale; Roker is a former Yorktown resident.

And more: Also scheduled to appear at the event are Don McLean, a New Rochelle native and Iona College graduate; the cast of "Nice Work If You Can Get It," featuring four-time Tony nominee actress Kelli O'Hara, who owns a home in northern Westchester; "The Next Iron Chef" winner Geoffrey Zakarian, who studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park; comedian Whoopi Goldberg, who's slated to play the Westchester County Center in White Plains on Dec. 7; and Colbie Caillat, who in June joined Gavin DeGraw in headlining the first concert at Provident Bank Park in Pomona.

The parade, with 86 years of history, is a multigenerational crowd pleaser for the more than 3 million people who typically attend the event and a TV audience of some 50 million.

For many families, the parade's iconic balloons are as familiar as the cousins who show up at grandma's house this time of year, but not everyone at the table knows the back story.

Among the new balloons this year will be Papa Smurf and the Elf on a Shelf, joining such icons as Buzz Lightyear, Sailor Mickey Mouse and the Pillsbury Doughboy. A new version of Hello Kitty! also will be included.

"A great thing about the parade balloons is that they are the most recognizable characters in the world. Betty Boop or Felix the Cat -- we might not all have been around when they were really popular, but we understand the pop culture significance of them," parade spokesman Orlando Veras said.

Every time a character is added to the family of balloons, it is guaranteed a run of at least three years.

"After that," Veras said, "you never know. Sometimes the character owners have other things they want to do with the characters, sometimes we want to retire them or sometimes we have to retire them because they can't fly anymore."

There have been six versions of Snoopy for a total of 36 parade appearances during the years, making him the most frequent participant. He's sitting out this year so his buddy Charlie Brown can have another turn.

The Muppet Kermit is the longest balloon at 78 feet, and Paul Frank's Julius sock money has the widest smile, measuring 19 feet. This year's Kermit is the one that debuted in 2002, although there was another version born in the 1960s.

Other tidbits:

• The crawling Spider-Man was created in 2009, more than 20 years after the initial parade appearance of Peter Parker's alter ego.

• Rex the Happy Dragon is returning as a midsize balloon. He claims the longest run since he was part of the first parade to include balloons in 1927. That year, he was joined by Felix the Cat and Toy Soldier.

• The Elf on the Shelf's name is Chippy. He's part of a newer but popular family tradition that features a doll version of the elf playing hide-and-seek in homes in the run-up to Christmas.

• The claim to fame for Pokemon character Pikachu is being the first special-effects balloon: His cheeks light up. He started flying in 2006.

• SpongeBob SquarePants, who leaves his Nickelodeon pineapple under the sea, first visited the parade route two years earlier as the first square balloon. It takes more than 600 internal tie lines to pull him into shape.

• The squishy Pillsbury Doughboy, famous from his TV ads, makes his signature giggle noise as he passes by crowds.

• Blue-bearded Papa Smurf and his 23-foot cane are new, but Clumsy Smurf came ahead of him. His first flight was 2008, and he retired after last year's parade. Smurfs have that multigenerational recognition Macy's is looking for, as today's parents remember them fondly from a 1980s cartoon but their kids know them as big-screen stars getting a movie sequel next year.

The Macy's parade started in 1924 with the retailer's employees and their families doing most of the work. That's a tradition it upholds today. The only break came during World War II.

The only requirements to be a balloon handler? You must be at least 18 years old and weigh 125 pounds or more.

The parade begins Thanksgiving morning at 9 a.m. and will be shown on NBC. A new app is also being introduced this year that will allow real-time interaction, including the Elf-o-matic feature that can transform users' photos into an Elf balloon.

With Newsday