Watch ‘Nutcracker’ Balloon Knock Down a Marcher During Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade did not go off without some bumps in the road. The annual holiday celebration featured the majestic balloons despite harsh winds affecting New York City Thursday morning. While organizers approved the balloons fly under the conditions at a lower height, one of the balloons got caught in the wind and knocked down a marcher.

A new video posted by KION 556 on Twitter shows the Nutcracker balloon being jostled down to the marchers by the wind, causing plenty of the marchers to duck and even one of them to fall down.

City and parade organizers had considered grounding the balloons due to the windy conditions, but chose to let them fly just minutes before the parade started.

The 93rd Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade featured the iconic balloons flying far lower than usual. The parade went from 77th Street to Central Park West in Manhattan and saw the balloons almost touch marchers heads as they were ordered to be flown lower to lower the risk on surrounding buildings.

Wind forecasts for Thanksgiving Day were forecast to be in the 18-21 mph range, with gusts reaching 38-40 mph. Officials monitored the conditions along the route before deciding to allow the 16 large floats to fly. Officials said the balloons cannot fly if sustained wind speeds are in excess of 23 mph or wind gusts exceed 34 mph.

“These sergeants are well trained to read the anemometers to identify the height of where we can allow the balloons to go up,” NYPD Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison explained. “The balloons can actually go up to 55 feet in height, but if it comes to a situation where there is a public safety we will bring them down to 10 feet.”

The nutcracker was not the only balloon to cause trouble this year. Viewers of the live telecast were disappointed to only experience old footage of the Ronald McDonald balloon after it was reported that a hole had ripped open in his leg.

“Some of the balloons suffered stress and tears during the overnight inflation which resulted in the Ronald McDonald giant balloon being pulled midway through the Parade,” Macy’s spokesman Orlando Veras said in a statement. The company added that workers will repair the tear so the balloon can return to the lineup next year.