11:26 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 8, 2003

· This is the 54th year for the parade.

· The beautiful and animated floats are built by Raul Bertucelli and his son Jonathan. All the floats in the parade are shipped in pieces from New Orleans and assembled here in Houston. The official term for finishing the floats is “topping them off”.

· There are seven floats in this year’s parade, seven high-flying balloons, and don’t forget the marching bands!

· Each enormous high-flying balloon that rubs noses with the Houston skyscrapers is filled with 18,000 cubic square feet of helium.

· 3,500 volunteers contribute their time each Thanksgiving to make the parade happen.

· Volunteers from Washington Mutual have brought joy to the hearts of many children at Texas Children’s Hospital for the last few years by taking the parade to them. The volunteers parade in as whimsical costume characters and hand out goodies to the children.

· Balloon inflation begins at 5:00 A.M. parade morning.

It takes over 100 volunteers to physically get the parade down the street. Many of the volunteers are Washington Mutual employees.