Chicago’s 70th annual State Street Thanksgiving Parade was all about knowing how to jockey for the perfect viewing spot.
Adults and children climbed the cement pillars at the front entrance of the Marshall Fields Co. building. Small children were boosted onto their parents’ shoulders. And metal newspaper stands became bleachers.
Sarah Harmening, 10, and her sister, Maddie, 8, stood on the base of a green light pole.
“It’s kind of hard to find the kids a spot,” said their mother, Melissa. “It’s the kids at heart who make it harder to get a good spot. It’s the 50-year-olds standing in front.”
A shoulder perch allowed Jack Sloyan, 2, to beat his two brothers in getting a glimpse of a yellow SpongeBob SquarePants balloon.
“Mommy! Mommy! SpongeBobby!” shouted Jack.
Jack’s mother, Doreen Sloyan, said she and her husband, Rob, take their sons to the parade every year for the big balloons. But she admitted, “I’m really into the bands. I love the Christmas music.”
Thursday’s temperate weather brought out an estimated 300,000 spectators, according to city officials. They took in the usual attractions: big balloon characters, colorful floats, loud marching bands and dancing drill teams.
This year’s parade also featured the star power of Suze Orman, the author of best-selling financial self-help books, as grand marshal, and actors Bonnie Hunt, David Alan Grier and Sara Rue as co-hosts of the parade’s television broadcast.
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Compiled from RedEye news services.