Stamford Thanksgiving Parade

We took advantage of the beautiful weather today and spent the afternoon outside at the Stamford Thanksgiving Parade, right in downtown Stamford.  This annual holiday balloon parade has become one of the largest events of it's kind in the country.  Last year they had approximately 100,000 spectators that come from all over the state and surrounding states!  There were many floats, bands, and of course balloons!

We have a really great time.   The only drawback....we should have gotten their 30 minutes before we did.  We thought we'd be able to park much closer than we did and didn't realize just how many streets they closed for this event.  So we parked about 1 mile away and had to walk to where the parade route started.  We were literally 30 feet from where the parade actually started but still got to see most everything including the bands practicing their warm up before it was show time.  The intersection where the parade started had 3 different streets that merged onto it.  One of the streets held the balloons, the other was where the floats were parked and the street were on had all the bands.

It was a beautiful day and if we are in this vicinity next year we will definitely see it again!  It was very similar to the Macy's Day Parade, minus the obnoxious crowds and having to get there at 5am to save your spot!

CT's Govenor to kick off the parade as Grand Marshal.

Govenor Dannel Malloy.

I spy the first float!

The police clearing the route right before the start.

The bag pipes.  According to the lady next to us...these guys are always the first band to play.

Silly clowns, a band and a sesame street balloon.

I think this is Grover.

They had to keep the balloons low to get them under the street lights in the beginning of the parade.

Here's Bob the builder laying down.

Then they would hoist up the balloons and they were ready to go!

Bob's up too!

Mikey loved the drums.

These professional pogo stick guys were awesome and they were our favorites!

They did so many neat tricks including flips in the air!

Scooby!

We are packed in pretty tight!

Ha - finally got Scott's dimples in a photo!

Shrek was huge!

Everyone's favorite - Clifford!

Enjoying the sites.

Mikey called this an "army." "I like the army guys" he'd say.

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Miss Connecticut Acacia Courtney.

After standing for about 2 hours we decided to stretch our legs and walked down the street with the remaining balloons.

They were awesome.

Larger than life when you got up close!

The kids loved checking out the balloons.

Katie and her Daddy. They had actual fire men hold the strings for the fire man balloon. 

 It was such a great day and so much fun!  I love living here because there is just so much to do!