Mighty Mouse To Soar In The Sky Above New Rochelle's Thanksgiving Parade
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The Thanksgiving countdown is on, and while millions will watch the giant floats in the city there is another local parade.
As CBS2's Cindy Hsu explained, it's all about the superheroes.
Remember Mighty Mouse? He was born in New Rochelle in 1941 at Terrytoons Animation Studio which used to be housed in what's now called the K Building.
Barbara Davis is the city historian and showed off a scrapbook all about Mighty Mouse and his creator Paul Terry who came up with lots of famous characters.
"Heckle and Jeckle, Tom and Jerry, there was also Sidney the elephant, and Hector Heathcoat," she said.
Davis has also been a fan of Mighty Mouse since childhood.
"He just had such a striking pose with a fist up and such a good guy, he's going to save all those other mice from the cats, and he's going to save the planet earth," she said.
For the first time a huge Mighty Mouse balloon will be flying over the New Rochelle Thanksgiving Day Parade. The parade has been a longtime tradition for more than 50 years, and it's a biggy.
"Certainly it's not as large as the Macy's Parade in New York, but it's as close as you can get here in the suburbs," Mayor Noam Bramson said.
It's the second largest Thanksgiving parade in New York with floats, bands, and more than 1,600 marchers. For the first time huge balloons will also fly over the parade.
The largest balloon will be Mighty Mouse, along with some smaller friends.
"We're going to have Thomas the Tank Engine, and Mr. Potato Head, and a snowman," Chamber of Commerce director Jennifer Lanser said.
New Rochelle has a lot of famous folks, here on the walk of fame you'll find honorees like Lou Gehrig, Norman Rockwell, Howdy Doody, and of course Mighty Mouse.
"I think right now we need a superhero to come and lift our spirits," Davis said.
Who better than a hometown mouse?
Evan Didrickson-Johnson grew up here hearing his dad yell -- "here I come to save the day!"
In just a couple of weeks, a whole new generation can meet Mighty Mouse.
The parade is Saturday, November 19, at 10 a.m.
