Updated 11/15/2009 10:47 AM
Macy's Paraders Attend Clown School
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Volunteers attended clown training in Macy's in Herald Square Saturday in preparation for the 83rd annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.
About 350 volunteers learned how to smile, dance and joke during workshops with professional clowns from the Big Apple Circus.
The "Clown U" program teaches future parade clowns how to engage with the crowds along the route.
With less than two weeks to go, volunteers are getting into the spirit.
"The fans are the reason we come," said parade clown Reagen Smith. "The crowd that gathers early in the morning to get a seat up front, the little kids that are bundled up waiting for us. You know the balloons are fun to look at and all, but they get to interact with the clowns."
Nearly 850 clowns will march down Seventh Avenue during this year's parade.