The Funny Farm Clowns are a unit of clowns in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
The Funny Farm Clowns made their first appearance in the 1994 Macy’s Parade as a comical salute to America’s heartland, with a group of slapstick scarecrows and peppy pumpkins. The clown unit was joined by the Funny Farm Produce Truck, a clown vehicle fashioned after a vintage pickup truck, that brought a cargo of American-grown produce along Broadway.
In 1999, the Funny Farm Clowns merged with the American Gothic Clown unit, creating a new unit named the “Funny Farm Produce Clowns.” This updated group included walking ears of corn, extravagant eggplants and guffawing gourds, in addition to the famous couple from Grant Wood’s American Gothic painting.
In 2004, the clown unit was joined by a duo of Rooster Stilt Walkers who strutted all the way down the Parade route. That same year, the clowns were known as the “Vegetable Clowns,” but were renamed back to the “Funny Farm Clowns” in 2005.
Following the 2006 Parade, the Funny Farm Clown unit retired the corn costumes, now only featuring farmers and scarecrows. In 2007, the group was named the “Funny Farm Square Dancer Clowns,” with the group of fall funnies doing the chicken dance throughout NYC.
Since 2009, the Funny Farm Clowns have retained their original name, and generally appear in the Thanksgiving portion of the lineup.
The clown group was noticeably absent from the 2020 Parade. Although they were scheduled to appear, rising cases of COVID-19 in the New York area in fall 2020 caused the number of participants to be greatly reduced. The Funny Farm Clowns returned to lineup the following year.
See also[]
- Funny Farm Produce Truck, the clown vehicle that appears with the Funny Farm Clowns.
- Hoedown Clowns, a clown unit that has paired with the Funny Farm Clowns in the past.