Macy's parade crowd for bizarre giant balloons

Giant balloons floated down the streets of New York for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 85th on Thursday, drawing huge crowds of sidewalks and an even larger audience of televisions, said a spokesman for the parade.

"We expected to 3.5 million people in the parade and I would say that we were North of it," said spokesman Orlando Veras M. Macy. Police refused to confirm the numbers, saying he did not release crowd estimates.

Veras said 50 million viewers are expected to watch the huge helium balloons shaped like Snoopy, SpongeBob SquarePants and other beloved characters drawn Central Park Herald Square in midtown Manhattan.

Offbeat new additions in the design of the year included 85th Parade "b." of Paul Frank Julius Sock Monkey "and" Director Tim Burton, a cute but creepy boy sewn from discarded Birthday balloons.

Temperatures headed toward 60 degrees and practically windless skies made for perfect parade, a magnet for the crowd, Veras said.

"We had a great parade today," he said. I did this for 11 years and these were the greatest crowds I've seen. "

Children and adults jammed sidewalks and side streets to watch the 8,000 people who attended the parade. The show included 11 marching band, 800 1,600 cheerleaders, clowns, dancers and singers, crews manning 27 floats and handlers for 15 giant balls and 44 smaller balloons, Veras said. (Reported by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Ian Simpson)