If you stick around town for Thanksgiving every year, then you surely know about the Thanksgiving Day Parade that runs down Tryon Street in the am on Turkey day.
Here’s what you might not know about:
You [or the people you need out of your kitchen] can be costumed walkers or ride on floats in the parade.
I can’t think of a more fun family activity, other than watching the parade itself, than gathering up the kids and sending them down with the non-cooking members of your family to walk in the parade.
Clown costumes are provided by the parade organization, any child over 10 (ten) can walk with a parent or adult. Teens 16+ can costume & walk on their own or volunteer for other parade tasks.
Sign them up as Parade Volunteers. That’s all you have to do to get them out of your house so you can prepare for dinner in peace. There’s one caveat – the only volunteer options for children 10-15 are to be clown costumed walkers OR float riders/actors.
Whaaaaat? Oh the horror! The ONLY things your kids can do is costume and walk or ride?
And maybe be seen on TV?
Seriously, I know some 10 year olds who would pay good money. This is a free, volunteer activity.
For the whole family. Including the grandparents. And all the annoying cousins. And pretty much everyone who spends Thanksgiving morning messing up your house, eating the  appetizers, picking at the dessert, asking you how long til it’s ready.
It takes 1,000 dedicated volunteers to produce the Thanksgiving Day parade. From audience engagement to behind-the-scenes, volunteer opportunities include:
Balloon Handlers
Banner Carriers
Community Relations
Costume Walkers
Host
Media Operations
Marching Bands
Marshals
Reserved Seating Host
Set-up & Disband
Staging
In addition to having a blast, and getting out of the house Thanksgiving morning, volunteers get a few special benefits:
Special access to the Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade
Branded jacket
Commemorative pin
Volunteer appreciation event (date tbd)
All you need to do is sign them up. Â Children 10-15 can volunteer with a parent accompanying them and your teenagers 16+ can go it alone. Â Adults can volunteer for any number of activities, including creating a group of costume walkers. Â You just FOLLOW THE LINK and select your activity from the list available. You can see how many spots are left in real time for each activity.
The parade itself is a super fun way to spend Thanksgiving morning – check out the video below. Â But being IN a Thanksgiving Day parade? Now that’s a memory that will last long after the turkey & stuffing are gone.
VOLUNTEER HERE.
