Not to be confused with the Pumpkin balloon from 1945.
"Fall is in the air...literally! These two Pumpkins are the pick of the patch!" -- Official Website, 2013-2017
The Pumpkins are novelty balloons from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
The picks of the patch made their first Parade appearance in 1992. These balloons were quite small in size and were anchored down by Parade participants wearing simple pilgrim outfits. In 1993. The balloons were updated when a trio of leaves was added on the top of both balloons. These Pumpkin balloons would appear until 1998 where they were retired.
A new pair of Pumpkins made their debut in the 2003 Parade. These Pumpkins were much larger than their previous incarnation and featured much more prominent colors throughout their design. These balloons had a trio of leaves that were added on the top of both balloons Like the former balloons. They would follow Tom Turkey down the Parade route up until their retirement shortly after the 2011 Parade.
Additionally, one of the Pumpkins would appear at the 2007 edition of Macy's Holiday Parade at Universal Orlando Resort.
The third Pumpkin balloons debuted in the 2012 Parade and were very close in design to the previous balloons. These Pumpkins deviated from their previous counterparts as they did not feature any leaves, most likely in an attempt to give them a "realistic" look.
These balloons appeared until 2017, when they were briefly retired, only to be reinstated to the Parade lineup in 2019, following the Cornucopia float down the route to 34th Street.
Additionally, one of the Pumpkins was used at a September 2014 test flight, alongside Julius the Sock Monkey.
The duo of Pumpkins were originally scheduled to appear in the re-imagined 2020 Parade, and were to be flown down 34th Street by a group of mask-clad handlers. However, as was the case with almost every other novelty balloon scheduled to appear, they were omitted from the lineup mere weeks before filming, as rising cases of COVID-19 caused the number of Parade participants to be slashed from 75% to 88%.
But the pandemic will not entirely wilt and rot the Pumpkins as they returned to the lineup in the 2021 Parade, and although they didn't rot, they were retired after making eight appearances.
In 2022, brand-new Pumpkins were revealed to the public. These new Pumpkins were first used in a Balloon Field Training session on October 15th, 2022 with the now-retired Sinclair Oil Dinosaur. These new Pumpkins made their debut in 2022, hoping that nobody carves them into Jack O'Lanterns. The picks of the patch will be back for the 2023 Parade.