On Thursday, November 28th, the Oradell girl scout troop 6950 were given the opportunity to walk the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. There were six girls from the troop that walked in the parade: Abby Levy, Lillian Schnakenberg, Sabrina Klein, Charolette Levy, Olivia McKelvey, and Maggie Janecelli.
They were accompanied by two chaperones as well as their troop leader. Altogether, there were around twenty-five kids.
Lillian Schnakenberg shared that her father works for Macy’s. Every year, he works as an electrician working on the floats for the parade. Danielle Tikijian, Megan Dressel’s mom, proposed the idea of participating in the parade. According to Lillian, Ms. Tikijian reached out to Mr. Schnakenberg asking if he could sponsor the troop.
Macy’s coordinators were in charge of confirming and selecting who walks in the parade, and luckily, the troop was chosen.
“We were pretty lucky to be chosen out of all the people that probably wanted to participate in it as well. I think we had a more likelihood of getting into the parade because my father works for Macy’s and helps make all the floats for the parade,” Explained Lillian.
When Megan found out she would be walking she wasn’t very excited about waking up early and walking in the rain, but as the day went on, she forgot about her concerns and enjoyed her time at the parade. “I wasn’t very thrilled cause I didn’t want to wake up that early, but I’m so glad I did it.”
The troop had an early start to their day, “We woke up around 3:45am to leave by 4, to get into the city by 4:45 and walk to the place after we parked,” explained Megan.
After checking in, “We waited for a long time, and they took us in a bus to the start of Central Park,” Olivia added. “Before we started walking in the parade we were waiting in the rain and cold. Other than that discomfort, I was actually feeling exited!”
The girls walked in the parade as slumber party clowns in pajamas.
“Our Clowns costumes were either white or blue pajamas that had an elf pattern on them. We got a white turtleneck to wear underneath, white gloves, and a fluffy sleeping hat,” described Lillian.
Unfortunately, the weather conditions weren’t the best, “Under the costume however, I wore four layers of clothes in order not to get cold. The people working there also gave us clear rain ponchos to wear over our costumes to be less wet,” continued Lillian.
Sabrina expressed that, “It was really wholesome to be part of one big community that was all together in one space at the same time all making memories for people on thanksgiving.”
Lillian was especially happy and fulfilled. “My family loves watching the Parade and I have been watching it every year since I was little. I was almost reaching my childhood dreams of being one of the Rockettes in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”
