Stamford Downtown Parade Spectacular 2025

Hello everyone! 

As you all probably know, this past weekend was the Stamford Downtown Parade Spectacular. And I’m just going to say this right now, this year was definitely one of the best ones ever!

I am now going to go over some highlights of this years event, as I feel that going over everything will be too boring.

For those of you who don’t know, me and my dad head over to Downtown Stamford on Friday, the day before the Inflation Party to see how they have gotten ready. Mostly, this consists of us heading over to Hoyt Street to see where the road is numbered for where each balloon will go, and all the barricades that will be used to block people from the balloons. For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, here’s a picture of it.

During our journey to Stamford at this time, we also noticed some other things. These included the fact that there were also numbers on other parts of the street, which were for all the marching bands, dance troupes, and floats, another part of the balloon layout that said “BU,” which I quickly figured out meant “Backup,” which was for the understudy balloons they had that year. This will become important later on. 

After we had finished looking at the layout of balloons, I pointed out to my dad that the spaces between each number was different, as the balloons numbered 1 and 2 were much closer than the balloons numbered 2 and 3, so from there we determined that the first balloon was going to be one of the smaller ones like Mr Potato Head.

The next day, when it was time for the Inflation Party, we found that our early guess was correct, as when we first got there, we saw that the first balloon in the lineup that was laying there was none other than Mr Potato Head. 

As I made my way down the street, I saw many other balloons laying in the road uninflated, and due to my years of going to the parade, I was able to figure out who every single one of them was. 

Much like with all the previous years, not all the balloons were laid out on the road yet. At the same time, I saw a bag laying in the road, so I went to see what it was, and when I walked towards it, I saw that what was inside the bag was none other than Pac Man. This will also be important later.

After we had walked around and seen the balloons that were already laid out on the road, a forklift made its way down the street, carrying some bags that contained balloons in them. I don’t know why, but I found this funny.

During this time, me and my family saw them lay some more balloons out, one of which was Peppa Pig, and it was clear that the workers taking her out of the bag were probably not the same ones who put her in the bag, as they were really struggling to untangle her ropes, and they could not have been more annoyed by this process. 

Another notable moment was when we saw them inflating the balloons on the other side of Hoyt Street, as we could see the Astronaut balloon being inflated and taking up a lot of space, and I am just now realizing what I said, and the pun was absolutely not intended. A little further down, we could see that they were inflating Neko Good Fortune Cat, and while it looked like they took up a lot of space, which they definitely did, my uncle was surprised to find out that Clifford The Big Red Dog was literally laying in between them, and commented that the balloon companies needed to do a better job of spacing their balloons, at which point I was hoping that none of the workers heard him, as Neko Good Fortune Cat was being inflated at the time, and all three balloons here belonged to the same company. 

Around the same time, we saw them laying out and inflating a balloon of a Non-Copyright Character named Mistletoes The Snowman. There is a reason why I am mentioning this part, just wait and see. 

There were also two bags that they didn’t even move once during the Inflation Party, which was bizarre, as they just left them in the middle of where everyone was walking, rather than moving them towards where they would lay them on the street. And if you’re curious who was in these two bags, I’ll tell you. 

The first bag contained Bumble The Abominable Snowman. You know, the character from Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.

The other bag contained the other backup balloon and had a name tag that wasn’t complete, and only said “Bird,” and when we looked inside it, there was a balloon that was yellow. My parents and my uncle had no idea who was in the bag, as the only character they could think of was Big Bird, but we knew that it couldn’t be him, as he is 60 feet tall, which is taller than every other balloon they had that year. I had already been able to figure out who was inside this bag, but for whatever reason, I didn’t share it with my parents and my uncle. This will be important later on, just wait and see.

We were also surprised by the fact that not only did we not see Curious George during the Inflation Party, we didn’t even see his bag. 

The next day was the actual Parade, and as we were making our way to our spot that we watch it from, we walked past the balloons on Hoyt Street that were waiting for the Parade to start. Yes, I am talking about the balloons as if they are living beings, don’t make fun of me. Many of them looked incredibly well inflated at this time, while some of them clearly still needed some work, as Oscar The Grouch still needed some helium, Bumble The Abominable Snowman needed a lot more helium, as he wasn’t even standing up at the time, and the front half of Super Grover, meaning his arms and head, were not inflated at all.

As we were making our way down Hoyt Street, I noticed that one of the backup balloons was inflated. I thought to myself that this was only because they wanted them inflated in case something went wrong with one of the balloons, as it’s very rare that a backup balloon actually makes it to the Parade, and when I saw it from a distance, I thought it was Pac Man. Again, this will be important later on, just be patient.

Something that I don’t think I noticed at the time was how little Mistletoes The Snowman was inflated, which will be important later on, and for those of you who have been paying attention to what you’re reading, you can probably see where this is going. 

My mom also pointed out how some balloons were not very well inflated for the Parade that was about to start, but I told her that this was something that happened every year.

When we finally got to our spot, I could already tell that things were going to be different, as the building that used to be home to Burlington across the street had been torn down, which opened the street up even more, and my parents even commented that it seemed quieter as a result. This also resulted in us being able to hear the police motorcycle sirens much earlier as they were making their way down Summer Street.

When the parade finally got to us, it was just as great as it has always been. With Burlington being torn down, we could now see the balloons from a much greater distance than before, and it also resulted in us being able to see them spin all the balloons. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s just the balloon handlers running in a circle and turning the balloon in a circle along with them. 

The first balloon we got to see was Mr Potato Head, who looked as perfectly inflated as he always has, which did not surprise me, as he was one of the smallest balloons there.

The next balloon we saw was Elmo, who has a very unique feature. His balloon comes with him holding a fishbowl with his fish Dorothy in it, but that is a separate feature that can also be detached, and has also been absent in some parades.

The next balloon we saw was Shrek, who is one of only two balloons in the parades history to be characters who are from Hollywood movies. The other balloon is Kung Fu Panda for those of you who are curious. Another interesting thing about the Shrek balloon is that he looks like he is one of the biggest balloons in the entire parade, but he is really only 40 feet tall, which doesn’t even make him the tallest balloon this year.

The next balloon we saw was Super Grover, which is the superhero version of Grover from Sesame Street. He was easily the biggest balloon they had this year, as he is a massive 60 feet long, and even though where we stood on Broad Street was relatively narrow and his face could have used a little more helium, the handlers were able to spin him in front of us.

The next balloon we saw was a new balloon of a character named Aliel The Zoonicorn. No, none of those words that I just wrote were typos. That is actually the name of the character. Her name actually is Aliel, and she is part of a web series called Zoonicorns. 

I am now going to share with you a funny story about this balloon. I first found out that she was going to be in the parade through a press release, and in it, they called her Ariel The Zoonicorn. I knew that this name was similar to one that I had seen on the website for the balloon company Big Events Inc., so I went to the Licensed Characters page on their website, and clicked on a balloon called Ariel The Zion, which is an even more incorrect name, and when I clicked on her page, I saw that she actually had her correct name, which told me that what was in the press release was autocorrect. Then, when I was at the Inflation Party, I was given a lanyard of the lineup of the entire Parade, and then I saw that it still called her Ariel The Zoonicorn, at which point I became convinced that her banner in the Parade would call her by that same name, and sure enough, it did. I find it crazy that they continued to call her by the wrong name, and none of the people from Big Events tried correcting them. Still a great balloon though.

The next balloon we saw was another new balloon, which was Bumble The Abominable Snowman. As soon as I saw that one of the balloon companies, Starbound Entertainment, had made a balloon of him, I knew that it was only a matter of time before he was in the Parade, so I was glad that he finally made it.

After that, we saw a float that featured Flippenout, which is an extreme trampoline act on a flatbed pulled by a truck. Yes, that’s right. They were doing extreme tricks on a moving trampoline.

The next balloon we saw was Jonathan The UConn Husky. Even though I think he is a great balloon, I still think Jonathan is a weird name, even with the historical significance to it. As I have said several times already, I think they should rename him Ginuwine. Also a million points to anyone who actually gets that reference.

The next balloon we saw was Curious George. While he has always been one of the favorites among me and my family, my mom doesn’t like his current balloon, as she doesn’t think it looks like him. I used to think that she was just hating on the balloon for no reason, but after my cousin’s friend who was there said that the balloon looked nothing like him, maybe she might have a point? I don’t know, I still think it’s a great balloon. Also, every balloon has a sponsor, and Curious George was sponsored by The City Of Stamford, but I think he should have had Shrek’s sponsor, which was George Comfort & Sons. Get it? Because, you know, George.

The next balloon we saw was Peppa Pig, which is a balloon that I am genuinely surprised was not part of the parade last year, as she is essentially one of the regular balloons that returns year after year.

The next three balloons we saw, I am just going to say right now, all belong to Big Events, and they could not have been inflated any better than they were this year.

The next balloon we saw was Astronaut, which in my opinion is one of the coolest balloons in the Parade, I mean seriously, just look at it.

The next balloon we saw was Clifford The Big Red Dog, which I feel is a balloon that can accurately be described as having an on again off again relationship with the Parade, as sometimes he is in the parade for a few years, then he takes a few years off, and then he’s back again. Seriously, it’s happened three times already.

After that, we saw the float for the radio station Star 99.9. I had heard that there were going to be characters from Wicked on the float, but I didn’t know the exact context, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were not only two people on the float dressed as Elphaba and Glinda, they were also singing songs from the musical right then and there.

The next balloon we saw was Neko Good Fortune Cat. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s an item that you have probably seen in many Asian restaurants that has a moving arm. You can also see the picture of it right there, and yes, the balloon handlers were moving its arm the same way it would ordinarily.

The next balloon we saw was Oscar The Grouch, who was one of the few balloons this year looked like he needed more helium, but the handlers were still able to spin him in front of us.

Remember everything I kept foreshadowing in this blog post? Well, here is what it was building up to.

As Oscar The Grouch was making his way towards us, I started to see a yellow balloon. I knew that the next balloon was supposed to be Mistletoes The Snowman, but I also knew that there was absolutely nothing yellow on the entire balloon, so for a few seconds, I thought it was Pac Man, as he also looked like the backup balloon I saw inflated when I walked past the balloons, but I quickly found out I was wrong.

My parents and uncle quickly found the answer to their question as to who the yellow bird was, as we quickly found out that it was none other than…

Tweety Bird.

Yes, that’s right. It was a famous Looney Tunes character. And he was also inflated incredibly well.

The last balloon that we saw was Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, who might have been the tallest balloon in the parade, but they were still able to spin him in front of us.

Overall, this was another amazing year for the Parade! I would like to thank Stamford Downtown for making it so amazing, my cousins for being a part of this as well, and especially my cousin Molly and her friend Michelle, who helped make this a great day.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog post, and I’ll see you all soon to discuss all the holiday events you can go to this year!