NEED TO KNOW
Meghan Simonette, who volunteered as a balloon handler in the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, details when the arm of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid balloon hit a tree before the parade kicked off
“It was so tragic,” she tells PEOPLE in an interview
Simonette says, though she felt prepared as a balloon handler, balloon handler training doesn’t include navigating around trees and other city infrastructure
For nearly a century, the streets and skies of New York City have been filled on Thanksgiving morning with a procession of larger-than-life inflatables: Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog, Pikachu, SpongeBob SquarePants and dozens of other lovable characters represented as massive balloons.
Though the iconic floats in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade often glide between the city’s skyscrapers without a hitch, a particularly strong gust of wind or an unfortunately placed street sign can cause the occasional snafu — sometimes prompting tears in their fabrics and even dramatic crash landings.
In 2023, fans of the parade may remember that several of the year’s floats appeared to be deflated — including Diary of a Wimpy Kid character Greg Heffley, whose entire arm hung limp for a large portion of his journey through Manhattan.
As fans at home speculated about what happened to the multi-story balloon, one of Macy’s volunteer balloon handlers, Meghan Simonette, had a front row seat for the drama, as she was assigned to the balloon directly behind it.
Gordon Donovan/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
“It was so tragic,” she tells PEOPLE about the experience. “Right before the parade started, his arm hit a tree. The whole arm deflated.”
Simonette, who was a first-time balloon handler that year, thought she was prepared for everything — she went to a training session for how to handle the balloons, held in September at MetLife Stadium. “But when you’re practicing at the Jets stadium, there are no trees,” she notes.
For the entire parade, the float in front of Simonette’s had “an awkward deflated arm,” she remembers.
Though a deflated balloon isn’t a safety threat, Simonette says, it does certainly make for a less fun parade for the volunteer balloon handlers who wake up at the crack of dawn to help guide the iconic floats through the city’s streets.
“It’s a bummer because those balloon handlers have nothing to handle at that point,” she says with a laugh. “It’s sad to see.”
But as a balloon handler, Simonette says she was surprised to discover how common minor deflation incidents occur — and also to learn that the balloons are actually stitched to have many small compartments, so the entire float doesn’t come crashing down if a single limb gets a tear.
Meghan Simonette
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And, luckily for Simonette, she’s never witnessed anything as dramatic as the disaster of 1997, where 45-miles-per-hour winds sent several floats — including Barney — flying erratically, crashing into nearby infrastructure and sending one person into a coma from a skull fracture, per Esquire.
“I’ve not seen anything like that,” assures Simonette.
