HOUSTON — On Thursday, organizers showed off some of the floats that will fill the streets of Houston for the HEB Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The north Houston warehouse housing the floats was filled with the sounds of power tools, hammers and nail guns Thursday morning, just a few days before they’ll be transported downtown for assembly.
“In its 69th year, we’re going to have new floats, about 15 of them,” said Susan Christian, the parade organizer and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. “We have 19 new balloons.”
Photos: Floats featured at the 2018 Thanksgiving Day Parade in Houston
Christian says the parade is a celebration of the city and region, from grand marshals Jose Altuve and James Harden to the marching bands.
“We have Prairie View A&M this year, all 400 of them marching to bring in Santa Claus,” Christian said.
Then there are the floats, which involve months of planning and weeks of hard work. Many were designed by Houston artists like Kati Ozanic-Lemberger.
“It’s really thrilling,” said Ozanic-Lemberger, who also teaches at Hogg Middle School. “My favorite thing is just to see it roll down the street and know that we made it happen.”
One of Ozanic-Lemberger’s floats spells out "Houston" with objects that celebrate the city’s diversity. She’s also designing floats for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, one of the parade’s sponsors, which will feature volunteers, Katy country artist Will Carter, and more.
“We’ll have baby goats trudging alongside one of our floats, and of course, our mascot Howdy,” said Joel Cowley, President/CEO of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
Alongside the fun floats will be serious ones, like the Tree of Life, also being built Thursday by a local artist. It will carry emergency personnel that treated victims at Santa Fe High School, painted in the school’s colors.
The parade is free and starts at 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 22 in downtown Houston. For more information, click here.