This Friday, Seattle will host its first real attempt to compete with New York City’s famed Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with a dazzling downtown Nordstrom Rack Holiday Parade featuring enormous balloons of Fruit Stripe Zebra and, the event’s crown jewel, a remarkably overinflated Chandler Bing.
“Seattle families deserve to have a real holiday parade too, full of oversized pop-culture personalities that are just as good as the ones in that fancy Macy’s parade, even if we’re on a tighter budget,” said Janet Fenton, lead organizer for the Nordstrom Rack Holiday Parade. “Sure, we could have secured a fancy pants Ross Geller balloon, or an Elmo float, but how can you refuse a lightly used Chandler Bing when you found him for 70 percent off at the Macy’s Holiday Parade Garage Sale last year? Could we BE anymore excited?”
While some were concerned that young children wouldn’t have any idea who these characters were, Fenton assured reporters that the parade would be a smash hit.
“Sure, you might have to explain who these characters are, but childhood is about discovery — they’ll be begging to watch Friends reruns by the end of this parade, believe me,” Fenton said. “And even if they aren’t, there’s no way they won’t fall in love with our Fraggle Rock inflatable that’s only missing one eye.”
Organizers say they’ve already started planning next year’s parade with high hopes that they’ll secure a series of balloons depicting the entire cast of NCIS.
