The successful event grew and grew, and soon Tony had to figure out how to make huge balloons that people could see from the back of the crowds. In 1924, he orchestrated Macy's first Thanksgiving Day parade. Tony took their request one step further and created mechanical marionettes that acted out nursery rhymes. The people at the 'biggest store on earth' noticed his popularity and asked Tony to decorate their holiday windows with his marionettes. In London and then New York City, he made marionettes and performed shows for children. His father was so impressed, he never asked Tony to do another chore. When the alarm rang, he pulled the rope that opened the door, and the chickens emerged to eat their breakfast. When his father asked him to feed the chickens very early every morning, Tony noodled the problem: how could he feed them without getting out of bed? He spread feed outside the coop, and then, with pulleys and ropes, rigged up a way to open the chicken coop door from his bedroom. Do any of us wonder who came up with the idea for those balloons? Curious children can now have the answer: Tony Sarg, artist, puppeteer, inventor, created the giant balloons and changed the way we all greet the holiday season.Īs a boy, Tony was determined to figure out how to make things move.

More than forty million (!) people worldwide watch the Macy's Parade each year, enchanted by the huge balloons that travel through New York City's canyons, nodding, smiling, and engaging the audience.

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet