Thousands headed to the Upper West Side Wednesday to see the balloons for the Thanksgiving Day parade get inflated, and as security concerns rise for the big event, city leaders say New Yorkers have nothing to fear. NY1's Na'eem Douglas filed the following report.
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons are coming to life.
For seven hours on Thanksgiving eve, families watched as crews put the final touches and began inflating the enormous balloons.
"It's awesome. I like it. They're huge," said one person who watched the balloon inflation.
"Every year, I see Pikachu being blown up, and that's special to me," said another.
Thousands of families from all over the city and country made the pilgrimage to check out Hello Kitty, the Kool-Aid Man and newcomer Scrat from the Ice Age movies.
As the sun went down and more continued to pour onto the Upper West Side, the mayor and police commissioner addressed security concerns. Like Wednesday's event, the parade will have more than the usual police presence.
"People are out here for a lot of reasons, but I know that people feel safe because of the work of the NYPD. I know that people who come here tonight and who come out tomorrow feel a deep appreciation for our officers," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The weather for the parade is expected to be picture perfect, and that means the possibility of a record-setting crowd and police presence. Police Commissioner William Bratton says he'll have 2,500 officers working the parade. He says it's the most the NYPD has used for the event.
"In anticipation of those very large crowds, we've increased the number of officers, I think we'll have the largest number of officers we've ever had for this even," Bratton said. "Over 2,500, and the thousands of other officers that are on patrol throughout the city."
The parade steps off Thursday at 9 a.m.