Country singer Lauren Alaina has some big company in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The Rossville native will be sharing a float with a two-story-high Jolly Green Giant aboard the new Harvest in the Valley by Green Giant float. This is the first appearance in the iconic parade for both.
The Season 10 runner-up on “American Idol” will be among other big names for the 91st annual event. She’ll be joined by fellow Nashville artists Sara Evans, Dustin Lynch and Cam, along with an array of stars from other genres, including Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle, Goo Goo Dolls, Gwen Stefani, Wyclef Jean, Common and Andra Day.
To see it
The 91st annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air live at 9 a.m. Thursday on NBC (Comcast channel 4, EPBFI channel 3 in Chattanooga). An encore will air at 2 p.m.
The Rossville native will be sharing a float with a two-story-high Green Giant aboard the new Harvest in the Valley by Green Giant float. (Photo: Laura Duphiney)The Green Giant float depicts the harvest of fall delights with green beans, corn and other vegetables in a rolling landscape where the Green Giant keeps watch. The replica of the big green ambassador is kneeling in the harvest but still towers more than two stories tall.
According to Macy’s, this year’s parade will feature 17 giant character balloons and 28 legacy balloons, plus balloonicles, balloonheads and trycaloons, which are basically inflated characters that pass at street level, along with 26 floats, 1,100 cheerleaders and dancers, more than 1,000 clowns, 12 marching bands and six performance groups.
The parade appearance caps a big year for Alaina. She was nominated for Best New Artist by the Country Music Association, buoyed by the success of her sophomore album, “Road Less Traveled,” a collection of 12 deeply personal songs written by the young star. The title track became her first No. 1 single. She also was nominated for New Female Vocalist of the Year this past spring by the Academy of Country Music.
November also saw the release of a television movie on CMT. In “Road Less Traveled,” Alaina stars as a songwriter named Charlotte who returns to her home town in Tennessee a week before she’s set to get married, hoping to borrow her late mother’s wedding dress from her grandmother. Then sparks fly when she runs into her high school sweetheart. Actress Charlene Tilton of “Dallas” fame plays her aunt in the film, which was shot in Knoxville.
The Macy’s parade draws more than 50 million viewers across the country and 3.5 million spectators each year. Organizers say it has grown in size and scale since it began in 1924. More than 8,000 participants will parade along the 2-mile route this year.
The “Today” show’s Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker will host the three-hour broadcast from 9 a.m. until noon on NBC. If you oversleep, you can catch an encore starting at 2 p.m.