New Orleans’s own Jon Batiste will ride aboard a new alligator-shaped float in promotion of Louisiana tourism at the 95th-annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thursday, November 25. The colorful procession, famous for its mammoth balloons of cartoon characters, floats bearing popular singers and appearances by the casts of Broadway musicals and the Rockettes, airs live nationwide on NBC on from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in all time zones.
Jon Batiste. Photo by Noé Cugny.
Batiste will ride aboard a $1.375 million float titled Celebration Gator was commissioned by the state of Louisiana as a tourism promotion. The float will appear in the Macy’s parade for the next three years.
“When it comes to parading, there is one thing Louisiana knows how to do and that’s throwing a party on wheels aboard the biggest float we can build,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “In celebrating our state’s incredible lineup of music, food, and culture, we hope people from all over the country, and the world, will take part in visiting our lively state where every day is a celebration of life, and we treat you like family. Participating in a parade as historic as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a real honor for the people of Louisiana.”
Jon Batiste will ride aboard a $1.375 million Celebration Gator float in the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Photo courtesy of Louisiana. Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Macy’s, Inc.
Inspired by many facets of Louisiana’s culture, the Celebration Gator, which resembles the famous Bacchagator float from the Krewe of Bacchus Carnival parade in New Orleans, includes elements of French Quarter architecture. Batiste will be joined by participants dressed in baby gator costumes, as well as a team of stilt walkers.
“The Macy’s Parade is thrilled to welcome this awe-inspiring and colorful float to our lineup,” said Jordan Dabby, producer of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “Sharing Louisiana’s rich history of celebration, the parade’s newest float will bring the revelry to spectators lining the streets of New York City and enjoying the pageantry from homes nationwide.”
Batiste is expected to perform when the float stops in front of Macy’s flagship store in midtown Manhattan. he recently made another big appearance in New York as a guest star for an episode of Sesame Street, which aired on November 18. The winner of an Oscar, a Grammy, and a Golden Globe award, Batiste is a graduate of St. Augustine High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.
