Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - 1992
The Andover One-Wheelers, a group of unicyclists from Andover Elementary School, are to travel by bus this morning to New York City, where they will spend Thanksgiving Day rising in the Macy’s Parade in front of millions of viewers.
"They’ll be in about the middle of the parade, behind the giant clown’s head float," said Leona Jenkins, a one-wheeler’s mother who helped organize the trip.
Proud New Hampshirites can also catch them in action at "The Star" - a special stopping point where the one-wheelers have been invited to perform for NBC, the network covering the parade.
Thanks to donors and fund-raisers, the one-wheelers’ adventure won’t end with the parade. They’ll also tour the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Cathedral of St. John, Chinatown and Greenwich Village. Then they’ll attend the opening night of New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker Suite at the Lincoln Center, courtesy of a local benefactor.
"I think we were all very astonished by the amount of money that came out of such a small community," said Jenkins. "I think this is a clear case of what people are really willing to do for children when they have the opportunity."
The one-wheelers will return to Andover on Saturday to begin practicing for First
Night New Hampshire on New Year’s Eve in Concord.
Baton twirlers, unicyclists and an award-winning cheerleader are among the New Hampshire residents performing for a national audience in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
The 38 embers of the Andover One Wheelers, 37 girls and a boy, raised about $17,000 in donations for the trip from businesses and by holding a casino night, selling buttons and donating their earnings from babysitting and yard work.
Leona Jenkins, a group spokeswoman, said the youngsters, ranging in age from 8 to 14, were very excited. She said the past two Sundays the group has gone on 10-mile rides to get in shape for their big performance.
Jenkins and the unicyclists will come into view midpoint of the parade, and will stop on the NBC-TV star to perform their circles, spirals and other maneuvers for the television cameras.
The 42 members of Derry’s Red Stars baton twirlers will march directly ahead of Macy’s ship float, which doubles as the twirlers; sound system, said Gail Hutchinson, the Red Stars’ coach.
She said the group is bringing all kinds of gear for all types of conditions, including gloves with grips to catch rain-slicked batons, and towels "if it’s really pouring."
Also in today’s parade will be Brooke Hoey, a Spaulding High School senior from Gonic. But she’ll be hard to spot as she performs with 524 other cheerleaders in the National Cheerleaders Association All-American team.
The parade will be carried on NBC-TV stations from 9 to 11 a.m.
Times are subject to change, but the One Wheelers were scheduled to appear at 10:24 a.m. for a 20-second shot. The Red Stars are scheduled for a 30-second airing at 10:43 a.m.
The cheerleaders will appear for a 70-second spot at 9:04 a.m.
Orphaned dada and moms strewn throughout Andover consulted their watches yesterday morning, read 10:24, punched on the VCR and hunkered down to some serious television.
Serious for at least 20 seconds, that is, as those orphaned when the one-wheeled prides of Andover lit out for the Big Apple watched their 39 unicyclists hold the spotlight in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They weren’t on long - just enough to claim they stole the show.
The team, from the Andover Elementary School, has received rave reviews from most of the folks they meet riding the subways in their red Andover One-Wheeler jackets.
"I feel like everybody in New York knows who I am," said Dabney Barrett, 12. "It’s really weird."
Even the gargantuan Bart Simpson seemed to have a cow as he turned a corner and gasped over his shoulder at the 39 adolescent unicyclists performing their "Locomotion Circle" in the rainy streets of Manhattan.
Like Simpson, the parade is a bit over-inflated, said Melissa Clough, 13.
"It was really exciting," said, but it was just a bigger version of the other parades they’ve appeared in.
Except for the television cameras. Being beamed across the country, now has a new wrinkle.
"Everybody smiled because they knew they were going to be on TV," Clough said.
Those two-and-a-half miles full of sewer grates, potholes and puddles you don’t quite see on TV didn’t faze the team. Those are just some of the things an insider sees during the parade, said Jodi Johnson, 13.
She was struck by the difference between watching the parade and participating in it.
"On TV it looks really perfect, but when you-re riding in it looks like any other parade," she said.
Any other parade with the mighty Underdog looming several stories above. That was another new wrinkle.
For some, it wasn’t enough.
From the comfort of his living room, Bill Jenkins wanted more.
"It was pretty," he said. "They rushed ‘em right out of there. They should have for 15 minutes air time."
Of course, he’s biased. Megan, his 14-year-old daughter, was one of the nine- to 14-year-old unicyclists NBC showed wheeling through Herald Square on the Macy’s star.
"I don’t think there was an empty VCR in Andover," he said. His mother-in-law called right after the unicyclists faded into a commercial. She’d taped it, too.
Kellie Mickle’s dad, Robert, said he was impressed knowing his 14-year-old daughter was performing for a national audience.
"It was quite a thing to watch your kid on TV," he said.
He and Jenkins are two of about a half-dozen fathers who spent Thanksgiving at Jenkin’s house watching football and eating casseroles left behind by their families, in New York to chaperone or watch the performance in person. About 160 people made the journey, said Andover One-Wheeler coach and founder Percy Hill, an Andover physical education teacher.
He said the kids were having the time of their lives in New York, and that crowds along the parade route were just cheering their lungs out.
"The Andover One-Wheelers were really the hit of the Macy’s Day Parade," Hill said.
The steady rain didn’t hamper them or dampen their spirits, he said.
"The adrenaline was flowing and they were just pumped up so hard it didn’t matter what the weather was like."
Last night, the Dallas BBQ on 72nd Street opened just to serve the team and entourage a full turkey dinner. Today they tour the city and wind up the day with the New York Ballet’s opening night performance of the "Nutcracker Suite" at the Lincoln Center.
And an encore performance is likely, said Hill.
"They’ve never had (unicyclists) in their parade for 66 years," he said. "They were concerned that the children wouldn’t be able to make it 2 1/2 miles"
"Afterwards, they were so impressed!"
By M.L. Elrick, Monitor Staff