By Katie Vasquez
We have all heard of Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, but students at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy in Queens created their own version of the iconic Manhattan march.
Some say it’s even better than the department store’s event.
There’s music, song and dance at this Thanksgiving parade, but it wasn’t marching down Fifth Avenue.
It was parading down the streets of Floral Park, Queens.
“This is better than Macy’s. We had cheerleaders. We had, our Broadway performance, and it was all our kids,” said the school’s principal, Joseph Venticinque.
Teachers at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy challenged students to take inspiration from the book “Balloons Over Broadway.”
Every grade worked together to create a bigger float with iconic cartoon characters, superheroes, and animals. Each student also making a mini float.
“I liked when I got to make it like the boat, she’s on a boat and I made all the characters,” said 4th grader Justine Phillips about his creation.
“I took a box, and then I painted it like this. And then I took a straw, and I made the sail. And I glued them both here,” said 4th grader, Mia Reiter, “I thought it was really cool. I like seeing everybody’s float.”
They were graded on their creativity in designing the individual floats, but the kids were grateful to work together and parade together in pride.
“To just get together before Thanksgiving, I just think it was a great idea is the first one that we’ve done. And, I think this is going to be a tradition here at Snows,” said 4th grade teacher Regina Rasa.
It’s a tradition the students are happy to join in for years to come.
“I guess my favorite part was having fun and joining everybody together,” said 1st grader Daesin Dorsett.
“I love this parade Because it was great. And I want to see it next year,” added 1st grader, Dylan McShane.
The two parades do have one thing in common: they both end with Santa’s sleigh! And the students at Our lady of the Snows now feel ready to bring on the Christmas cheer.