Sesame Street

The float during parade preparations before the 1994 Parade.

## Friends for Life

The Pop-Up book float stops for a performance in Herald Square during the 2001 Parade.

## All Around the World

The float in 2003, being closely followed by the ABC Bouncing Balls.

## 1-2-3 Sesame Street

The float makes its debut appearance in 2004.

### Years

2004-Present

***Sesame Street*** is an American children's television show co-created by Joan Ganz Cooney and produced by the non-profit Sesame Workshop (formerly known as Children's Television Workshop). The series, which debuted in November 1969, is known for educational content and images communicated through the use of puppetry, animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. It has aired on public television stations owned by PBS since its debut, with first-run airings of episodes moving to premium cable channel HBO in 2016.

*Sesame Street* was the first children's television show to use educational goals and a curriculum to shape its content and the first show to study its educational effects on children. The program was intended to teach preschool children such things as letters and numbers, socialization and cooperation; but through the use of its humor, cultural references, celebrity guest appearances, and Jim Henson's Muppets, the show was also able to have a strong appeal to parents. *Sesame Street* has been part of the childhoods of over 77 million Americans, spawned twenty international versions, and holds the record for the most Emmy Awards won by a children's television series.

## History with the Macy's Parade

### Floats

*Sesame Street* has featured floats in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since 1974, with six unique floats based on the series. These have generally featured the vast majority of the show's Muppet and human characters singing songs of their own (mostly from *Sesame Street* itself), sometimes accompanied in recent years by popular musicians. The original float appeared in 1974, featuring two buildings: the "123 Sesame Street" brownstone, and Hooper's Store. Also featured were a streetlight with the *Sesame Street* sign located at the front of the float, and a ramshackle fence at the back, decorated with numbers and letters. Big Bird was perched on the roof, Cookie Monster and other Muppet characters stuck their heads out of the windows, and human cast members Mr. Hooper, Gordon, and Bob stood in front. This float was retired after the 1978 parade and replaced by a new float celebrating the show's 10th anniversary, This version is taller than the 1st version, and uses only one building, with Big Bird sitting in a nest atop the building and the cast members and kids appearing in front. These character placements would be the layout for all of the floats to come out of the show.

The *Sesame Street* float was altered in 1981 to promote the new *Sesame Street Live* show, including walk-around characters, then was retired for over a decade after 1982. While the *Sesame Street* float was absent from the Macy's Parade, *Sesame Street* Muppets (and a couple of walkarounds) appeared in The Rocket Car in 1984, and Ernie and Bert appeared in walkaround form in 1988 and 1990. In 1990, respectively, they appeared atop The Watering Can float, performing "*Do You Like Me?*". Of note, this would be the last time Jim Henson's vocals were used in the Parade.

The *Sesame Street* float returned in 1994, with an abstract design of the street, with most attention paid to the Furry Arms Hotel, made from books based on the show's current literacy curriculum. In its first year, the float was sponsored by a popular toy company, Applause Inc. but by 1995, the show's owner CTW would sponsor it again. Parts of the float still survive today, including one of the pencils and the street sign, which is on display at the Parade Studio.

In 1998, the previous float was replaced by a new float where the street is represented as a pop-up crayon drawing, with doors and windows opening and closing like in a lift-and-peek book. According to a drawing located on the front of the float, it was drawn and colored by Big Bird.

In 2002, the *Sesame Street* float featured a message about peace and universal goodwill, and the American cast was joined by a group of international *Sesame* Muppets. The international Muppets included Filfil and Nimnim from Egypt's *Alam Simsim*, Hu Hu Zhu from China's *Zhima Jie*, Rumpel and Samson from Germany's *Sesamstrasse*, Kareem, Dafi and Haneen from the Palestinian *Shara'a Simsim*, Abelardo and Lola from Mexico's *Plaza Sésamo*, Zeliboba and Businka from the Russian *Ulitsa Sezam*, and Moishe Oofnik from the Israeli *Rechov Sumsum* and *Shalom Sesame*. That year, the cast sang "We Are All Earthlings". It would later be repainted in 2003, now including only the cast of the regular *Sesame Street* television program.

The current "123 Sesame Street" float, introduced in 2004, measures 32 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 2 stories tall, and represents the show's history with the classic brownstone while also being what its designer called "modern and visually exciting." In 2006, the float collided with an NYPD cruiser, damaging the car in the process, with no dicernible damage to the float. In 2009, the float gained a new sponsor: the National Association of Music Merchants, or NAMM. In 2012 they were replaced with online greeting card site Cardstore, but by 2013 Sesame Workshop had gained the sponsorship of the float again, and remains the sponsor of the float to this day.

To celebrate the show's 50th anniversary in the 2019 parade, the cast and Muppets, joined by the National Dance Institute, kicked off the route through Herald Square with a partially pre-taped musical number. Part of the opening was taped on the *Sesame Street* set at Kaufman Astoria Studios (on November 15), followed by on-location shots throughout the city. The opening featured cameos from celebrities, including Jane Krakowski, Al Roker, Darren Criss, Justin Long, Lucy Liu, and Lester Holt.

### Balloons

Several *Sesame Street* characters have also appeared in balloon form. Big Bird's balloon debuted in 1988 and remained in its original version until 2001 when it was replaced with a second version that appeared until 2006. A Super Grover balloon was launched in 2003 and remained until 2006; and Abby Cadabby, one of the show's newer Muppet characters, got her own balloon from 2007 to 2009. Since the parade's last *Sesame Street* balloon was retired, the *Sesame Street* float has been preceded/followed by non-Muppet characters such as Greg Heffley, Hello Kitty, Harold the Policeman, Po from Kung Fu Panda, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Jett By Super Wings. Sesame Workshop also furnished a trio of novelty balloons, the ABC Bouncing Balls, which appeared from 1988 to 2003.

## Songs Featured

During most appearances of a *Sesame Street* float, the float would stop at Herald Square and perform a song for the NBC telecast. Below, you will find a list of characters that have appeared on or alongside the float, in addition to their NBC telecast performance numbers.

Additionally, Alan Muraoka has choreographed the float performance in the 2001, 2013, 2014 and 2015 parades.

**Bold** indicates the special guest performer on the floats.

## See also

* Gallery: Sesame Street
* Big Bird
* Abby Cadabby
* Super Grover

## Notes and references

1. ↑ " "Floating Beauty: The 81st Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Rides Down Broadway on Theatrical Moving Stages", Macy's press release, November 2007.
2. ↑ Recount by the float designer, Louis Henry Mitchell