Tips: Thanksgiving Parade Mistakes To Avoid
DETROIT (WWJ) - If you plan on going to the America's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, there are a few no-nos you need to be aware of.
Tens-of-thousands of people will be lining the streets of Detroit to take in the spectacle, and police are warning parade watchers not to put up scaffolding to get a better view.
"Chairs are welcome. You probably won't need blankets. It's going to be a wonderful day but scaffolding is prohibited," Detroit Police Lt. Renee Hall said. "Often times, individuals will come down the night before to build a stand. Those are prohibited if they're built, you will be ticketed and they will be torn down."
Also, said Hall, "Alcohol is prohibited. As with anything, you cannot drink on a public street but we welcome you to bring snacks for the kids," Hall said. "The parade steps off at about 9:15 but most people start lining up as early as 6:30 in the morning."
Some streets along Woodward Avenue are already closed as organizers of the parade get ready to roll our the floats. Hall has this advice for parade-goers.
"Get down in a timely manner," Hall said. "Have patience. It's going to be a lot of traffic coming into the downtown area and we must say approximately 6:30, 7 a.m. is a good time to head down for the parade."
Wednesday afternoon floats were already lined up along Woodward in the staging are between Warren and Mack to be checked for damage.
WWJ's Sandra McNeil spoke with Dan Dickerhoff who does the parade's animations. "Right now it's not a lot of fun," he said. "We've been working almost around the clock now for weeks, so ... a little bit late this year. We're just getting it done now.
"(They're) very intricate floats. It used to be, back when I first started, a float meant one trailer -- now a float means three. So, basically we're doing three times as much work as we did 10 years ago."
