Balloon injures two spectators at Thanksgiving Day parade

NEW YORK -- A giant balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade snagged a street light and caused part of it to fall, injuring a woman and a child, eyewitnesses said.

The accident marred the holiday celebration but proved to be far less serious than a similar one eight years ago that critically injured a woman and prompted changes in parade rules.

A 26-year-old woman and 11-year-old girl were hit by the debris, officials said. The girl was treated in an emergency room for minor scrapes on the side of her head. The woman, who was in a wheelchair, needed six stitches for a cut on the back of her head and was expected to be in the hospital overnight.

"We should be thankful none were more seriously hurt," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The accident happened in Times Square near the end of the nationally televised parade when the tethers on the "M&M's Chocolate Candies" balloon became entangled on the head of the street lamp and knocked it off.

"It happened so fast," said parade spectator Karim Simmons, of Queens. "I said, 'Oh, my God!' It dropped like a rock."

The crew handling the balloon was apparently trying to correct its course after a gust when it became entangled with the light, Bloomberg said. The National Weather Service said the wind speed in Central Park at 11 a.m. was 10 mph, with gusts topping out at 21 mph.

The circumstances were an echo of the 1997 accident, when 45 mph winds forced a "Cat in the Hat" balloon into a metal pole on Central Park West.

As a result of that accident, balloon handlers were given more training, and guidelines were set to ground balloons if the wind threatened to be too strong. Streetlights were redesigned, including the one that was broken Thursday.

Parade organizers were given the go-ahead to use the balloons this year, but ordered them tethered on shorter lines because of moderate breezes at the parade's start.

The Macy's parade started in 1924 and has been an annual tradition, canceled only in the World War II years of 1942 to 1944.

The balloons, including Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer, the parade's first Latina balloon character, shared top billing with 10 marching bands, 27 floats and performers such as LeAnn Rimes, Aaron Neville and Kristin Chenoweth.

Among those watching was 85-year-old Ron Kahn, who took pictures while perching on a ladder.

"This is wonderful. It's part of New York," Kahn said.

Sayra Hernandez watched from a side street with her son, Lucas, 4, sitting on her shoulders.

"It seems better on TV, maybe more glamorous, not this hectic," said Hernandez, 30, of Manhattan. "But the smile on my kid's face is priceless."

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