Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon Inflation in 2021

 

On Wednesday November 24, the day before Thanksgiving, Dwight, Maddie, Mike and I all took the PATH train to 33rd and then the B train to 72nd Street.

Some key points

1. Upon exit from 72nd Street, walked one block to Columbus, and then we were right where we needed to be, on line for seeing the balloons, at Columbus and 72nd. Even coming out of that subway station we already could see there were crowds but it was fine
2. The line was set up so there were several stations where we could show our vaccination proof
3. After we were let in to the line, it wound around several times up and down Central Park West, and was never packed with people.
4. We walked for a good half hour on the winding line before we were allowed to get onto 77th, where the balloons were. So from the subway to where the balloons were was 45 minutes
5. We walked 77th west to Columbus Avenue. Along there was where we saw more than half the balloons we were going to see
6. There were never big crowds. We could see everything and could get good photo ops.
7. Then a short hop up Columbus Avenue, and then we headed east on 81st, where there were more balloons
8. We had emerged from the subway around 2pm which was perfect because many balloons were already inflated, some were being inflated which was fun to watch, and a few were not yet inflated.
9. We might have spent less time if more balloons had been inflated already. Even forty-five minutes can be enough to have a great time
10. We spent about an hour and a half looking at balloons. It was an excellent day with perfect 50 degree weather and no wind, and the people in charge of the inflation did a great job organizing everybody. Maybe because pandemic but hopefully it will be this good every year.
11. Then we took the B train from 81st to Little Korea to eat out at Love Korean Barbecue. We were early for meeting up with Marcy for our 5 pm reservation so we wandered around Macy's first.
12. At Love Korean BBQ, we were seated on their ground level floor instead of downstairs. The music was too loud, but we had a great time.