we ll wait to see if the balloons will get to fly or have to sit this one out. it all depends on how strong the wind is. jason carroll is live along the parade route with a front row seat to all the action. lucky fella. reporter: yeah, it s cold out here, but it s looking good. and that s the good news. behind me there, you have the snoopy woodstock balloon. you also have the balloon handlers warming up. all the parade goers are starting to line up for what the organizers say is so far the balloons are a go. 16 giant balloons are filled and ready for liftoff. thousands showing up wednesday night to get a look at the helium-filled stars of the 87th and yule macy s thanksgiving day parade, hoping they soar high above new york city later this morning. it s the first time we ve seen them blowing up. and that s like the best part to see the beginning and then tomorrow we ll see the end result. reporter: whether it will be
handling the balloons are trained. no way. yes, they go through training, they go through a skrool. there s a six-member team under each balloon responsible solely for the safe flight of the balloon. each balloon is tethered to time-o two vehicles. under each balloon, from 60 to 90 balloon handlers depending on the size of the balloon and they go through various types of balloon training. the most intense is classroom study and required of the six-member team. if you re going to be a balloon handler, we recommend on site training as well as video training. and also, a minimum of 125 pounds in order to handle one of these bad boys. can you participate? now, amy, i am a strapping buck underneath this, amy, i m telling you. all right. heavy shoes. heavy shoes. also, another point. another point that a lot of people don t realize as well is even though the balloons may not be able to go all the way up, you might be able to keep them lower to ground depending on how
cloud cover, but no real rainfall. it s the northwest we re watching. if you re traveling sunday, it s here in the ohio valley, northeast and down toward the southeast we could find travel delays. thanks so much. have a wonderful holiday. new york, we re going to take you outside in the streets of manhattan because one of thanksgivi thanksgiving s most beloved institutions just getting underway here in new york city and michelle franzen is standing by with a front row seat for us. obviously, i don t want to incourage channel flipping, but people can catch this somewhere else, but they do not have the inside track that you have right now at the start of this parade. so fill us in. that s right. listen, thomas, countdown. the parade is officially underway here in new york city. a tradition as you mentioned getting underway, so you ve got the preview here. behind the scenes, take a look behind me. the balloon handlers. with many of those traditional
julias will be joining that parade today. along with hundreds of performers including cheerleaders and clowns all around us and also all those marching bands from around the country. in addition, some celebrities turning out too. cee lo green, mary j. blije, and all the traditional floats we know and love. as you mentioned, more than 3 million expected to line these parade routes, and another 50 million are expected to tune in at home as they get ready to gather and celebrate this day, thomas. and certainly, this is a project that goes on year round and the design and the planning all culminating today in this tradition. really is a beautiful day. and michelle, the one thing we re seeing a lot of people on the street there, most of them are the balloon handlers. and the big concern is normally the winds, but today it s expected to be mild, right? reporter: between 5 and 10 miles per hour, which is certainly ideal, especially compared to yesterday when they
is going to be here? you have pretty big name stars lined up. we have a list talent. kanye west, jessica simpson, gladys knight, you name it. we have someone for everyone. takes a lot of people to put this on today. how many people were out here supporting you making this parade happen? we have about 8,000 volunteers marching in the parade this year from balloon handlers to marching bands to people who are float escorts, logistics. it takes a village to put on the macy s thanksgiving day parade. there s a lot of clowns. how many? we have over 800 clowns. they re going to be clowning around. a gaggle of clouds in the macy s day parade. earlier this week, it looked like the weather would be a disaster. it will happen later on today. not this morning. how big of a relief is that? the weather is going to be fantastic. it will hold out. we expect the rain to start after the parade ends. we re expected to go during rain, sleet and snow. you re buying me drinks if