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Big Balloons Parade Friday In Springfield

Spirit of Springfield

Tens of thousands of people will usher in the holiday season in downtown Springfield Massachusetts Friday morning with the annual Tower Square Parade of Big Balloons.  WAMC”s Paul Tuthill reports

The parade, which features 9 giant balloons,including the" Cat In The Hat",steps off at 11AM on Main Street.   Judy Matt, president of Spirit of Springfield, the parade organizer, says this year’s parade will be led Col Robert Brooks, head of the fighter wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base. A high school ROTC unit will march  right behind him with a giant American flag

The parade also features four marching bands, and Santa Claus on a fire truck…

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.