My Visit to The Detroit Parade Company

Once a year The Parade Company brings us America’s Thanksgiving Parade. The streets of Detroit are taken over by clowns, floats, balloons and thousands of smiling people. The Parade Company owns hundreds of costumes, floats, and big headed characters. I recently found out that they work all year round to repair and create new items for the coming year's events. I also learned that they store all of their floats, costumes, and props in a huge warehouse in Detroit. I also discovered that you can take a tour of the facility and immediately went and did just that.

Walking around the warehouse is like being inside Willy Wonka's factory. Floats that I had seen on TV were right there in front of my eyes. There were rows of big heads, including celebrity appearances by Detroit stars Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. They were building new Detroit Tigers' bobble heads right in front of my eyes. There were new floats, old floats, and floats that were being repaired. There were racks of costumes, fun mirrors, and pictures and statues of clowns everywhere.  It was surreal to say the least. I cannot imagine how exciting it must be for a child to walk through the building. I'm pretty sure my tour guide may have thought I was a child with how many times I screamed, clapped and snapped a picture while I was walking through. The best part is that anyone can take a tour or rent this space out for an event. Personally, I keep picturing Her Dark Host preforming next to all the big heads for some reason.

Tours of the warehouse are available for groups of ten and above. It costs $8 for children ages 3-17 and $12 for adults. Visit the parade Companies website here for more information on booking a tour. I highly suggest this one, it was a really cool experience!

 

~S