What to Know
- 10-year-old Alex Harris is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade's biggest fan.
- This year, Macy's gave him the surprise of his life: tickets to sit front row at the parade.
- Alex and his family are thrilled. He's been watching since he was a baby, and creates mini parades at home from his toys.
A boy who’s been in love with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for years was just granted the wish of his lifetime: he’s going to sit front row at the parade on Thursday.
Alex Harris has been obsessed with the parade since he began watching it at 4 years old. Now 10, he knows everything there is to know about the parade: he’s read books about the event’s history and watched old videos on YouTube, his mom says.
Every year, he closely follows the announcements of who will be performing and what balloons will be making their big debut. Alex even re-enacts the parade with a collection of toys and homemade confetti each Thanksgiving, commentating along with Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker.
When Macy’s heard about his story on NBCNewYork.com, they wanted to give him with the greatest gift of all time.
Alex’s parents had already surprised him with tickets to New York City earlier this year, but he had no idea he’d be sitting right on West 34th Street -- in seats that are virtually impossible to come by.
Local
Alex didn’t have a clue about the surprise when he arrived in New York earlier Tuesday morning. Macy’s had invited him and his family to meet Santa on the eight floor of their midtown flagship store.
Santa met Alex and then introduced him to the creative director of the parade, Rick Pomer, who gifted Alex the tickets.
“We are amazed that [he] is so excited about the parade, it pushes us to keep putting on a better parade every single year,” Rick Pomer said Tuesday.
Alex’s jaw dropped upon receiving the tickets. He was totally speechless at first.
“I’ll remember this forever,” Alex told NBC New York.
