BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)– We are just a day away from Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Parade in New York City where Louisiana will take the stage for the second year in a row.
The Boot will be in the Big Apple tomorrow, bringing some Louisiana spirit to the world.
The state will be featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and it’s a great way to bring more visitors and money to the state.
A Louisiana alligator float will be making the streets of New York its swamp for Thanksgiving.
“It crawls down the street to New York wagging its tail, and then it opens, it smiles, and it blows confetti,” said Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser (R).
Lt. Nungesser said the 60-foot float definitely made a lasting impact last year.
“We stole the show. People were talking about it for weeks after the parade,” he said.
He said they’re also adding a lot of flavor to the event with their Grammy award winning artist, Trombone Shorty performing on the float.
They aimed to put Louisiana at the top of everyone’s travel list.
“We got so much, a 50 to 1 return on investment. We’re expecting the same kind of excitement this year that will draw people to our website, to book trips to Louisiana,” Nungesser explained. It brings hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s the hotels, it’s the parties. It’s the people eating in the restaurant.”
The Parade reached 1.5 billion people last year. Their special weapon? Creative billboards that were plastered across Times Square.
“In Times Square, and all at once, and there was an alligator eye. And it looked around and everyone on the street stopped to look up and said, ‘What is that?’ Then the billboard said, ‘Get ready, New York, Louisiana is coming,'” said Nungesser.
And they believe this year will top 2021.
“We’ve got so much to be thankful for in this great state and hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving,” he said.
The parade will kick off on NBC Local 33 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
