Harold the Fireman is a balloon character from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Fireman (1948)[]
The original Fireman balloon made its debut in the 1948 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The balloon was a redesigned version of the “Everyman," which had previously appeared as Bobo the Hobo Clown in 1945, a Baseball Player in 1946, and the Comical Cop in 1947.[1] The Fireman saluted New York’s Bravest as he was filled with 6,700 cubic feet of helium and air, making blowing out blazes a breeze. Escorting the Fireman down Broadway was Macy’s own fire company of zany clowns.
Harold the Fireman (1996-2017, 2019)[]
In 1996, a recreation of the friendly Fireman balloon debuted to celebrate the Parade’s 70th anniversary. Given a new identity as Harold the Fireman (named after Herald Square), the balloon was part of the Parade’s heritage balloon program, which reinvents classic Macy’s characters for a new audience.
Harold the Fireman, always spiffed up and ready for action, stands 32 feet tall and 26 feet wide, with a helmet that has a 45-foot circumference; keeping his trousers up are his yellow suspenders and 2,800 cubic feet of helium. Harold is the honorary fire chief of the Funny Firefighter Brigade and, like his ancestor, salutes the brave men and women of the New York Fire Department. For his 2001 Parade appearance, Harold wore a commemorative crest on his helmet that honored the fallen members of the FDNY who perished on 9/11.
Harold continued to battle the big blaze on Broadway and soon became a Parade staple. After 20 consecutive appearances, the balloon took a brief hiatus following the 2017 Parade but returned to the lineup in 2019. Harold the Fireman was scheduled to make an appearance in the reimagined 2020 Parade but was later cut due to tightened COVID-19 restrictions; the balloon was also planned to appear in the 2022 Parade but was once again cut from the lineup during the final stages of planning.[1]
Trivia[]
- A costumed version of Harold was once part of the Funny Firefighter Brigade clown unit.
- In 2002, a hand-blown glass ornament of Harold the Fireman (in addition to Harold the Baseball Player and Harold the Policeman) was sold as part of Macy’s Holiday Lane collection; a similar ornament was sold beginning in 2020.
- In 2009, the balloon noticeably received a fresh coat of paint.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 JamarcusMudkip. "2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Website Walkthrough." YouTube.com. March 3, 2023.