beowulff that is one fucking fantastic story, and well-told.
Big props to you for doing it and HUGE props to your Mysterious Benefactor for helping make it happen.
Ddamn, the Straight Dope totally fucking rocks!
No, I’m not a Macy’s employee.
The huge majority of the parade positions go to Macy’s employees, but my understanding is that an employee can sponsor a family member or guest.
That’s what makes this experience so incredible - the number of non-employees in the parade is very small, and my sponsor was very generous to give me a shot at it!
Thank you for sharing this what a terrific experience!
I wonder if we should start a thread for bucket list wishes like this. We dopers have our fingers in a lot of different spots all over the planet and I bet this is not the only one that could be brought to fruition.
Congratulations, beowulf — and kudos to your generous sponsor. A friend of mine (also a non-employee) had to work his way up; it wasn’t until his fifth or sixth parade that he got to handle a balloon.
(I did it once. Carried one end of a banner with Usher’s name on it in front of a float he was on. Was hoping to do it again the following year, but never got that mid-summer e-mail from Macy’s.)
Love it!!! Thanks for writing this up. I really enjoyed reading about your experience — truly once-in-a-lifetime! And thanks to that anonymous Doper for making that cool thing happen!
What an experience! Thanks for posting. Anonymous Doper, you’re incredible! Thanks for brightening my day.
PIKA, PIKA…
Sorry
Teehee. Not sorry.
Lovely story 
Thank you, both to beowulff and to Anonymous.
How about “Ride on a Parade Float?” Eons ago, when my uncle worked for Pepsi, I was on a float in a muu-muu, because a blond of Eastern European descent can pass for Hawaiian! 
Then when I was in college (and in the Navy) I marched in 3 Mardi Gras parades carrying the Navy flag. That was much less fun than waving from a float.
But neither was even close to as cool as your experience! How exciting!! Thanks for sharing!!