Marches, jazz, hip-hop and Motown music pulsed through the heart of Detroit as tens of thousands of city residents, suburbanites and even some intrepid out-of-town football fans watched the 83rd annual America's Thanksgiving Parade.
They cheered under gathering clouds and relatively mild 40-degree temperatures Thursday as the pageant including some 25 floats, 12 giant balloons, 12 bands and nearly 1,000 clowns made its way down Woodward Avenue, the main downtown thoroughfare.
What organizers called "specialty units" — including unicycle riders and a dance team maneuvering vacuum cleaners — were interspersed among the high school marching bands and floats dedicated to Detroit's top musical genres. The crowd reserved its loudest cheers for Santa Claus, whose float brought up the rear.
"I'm sure it gives everyone a lift," said Rich Wiles, 53, of Troy, a General Motors Co. retiree. "Anything we can do for ourselves in these times is good."
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Dozens of people watched the parade from the indoor comfort of the Compuware Corp. headquarters building. That didn't appeal to Greg Nycholas, 53, a government contract employee from Macomb County's Macomb Township. He dressed for the late-November weather and carried his 5-year-old son Miles on his shoulders.
"It'd be nice if you could sit by the curb," Nycholas admitted while waiting to see his daughter Emily, a clarinetist in the Dakota High School marching band.
Street vendor Oliver Clay of Detroit had steady business selling hot dogs, Polish sausage and bottled water for $2 each.
Clay said people were in a good mood despite the cool weather, and predicted they'd be feeling even better if the Detroit Lions managed to beat the Green Bay Packers at nearby Ford Field later Thursday. Detroit, however, has won only two Thanksgiving Day games this decade.
"That's pretty much the tradition — have dinner and watch the Lions lose," said Chuck Earl, 44, of Trenton, a municipal building inspector who was accompanied by seven relatives provisioned with boxes of doughnuts and coffee in paper cartons.
Ann Trotter made the eight-hour drive from Wisconsin to watch the Lions and her hometown Packers. The 55-year-old information technology manager said she has season tickets back home, but added: "You guys get a parade. It's wonderful!"
Trotter, clad in a green-and-yellow Packers jacket, said she and her traveling companions hadn't met any hostility in Detroit. "We don't care if the Packers win — we'll be back," she said.
Organizers set up three locations where parade-goers could drop off donations of canned food for the Gleaners Community Food Bank, one of the major charities in Detroit, where the September unemployment rate was 17.3 percent.
Eugene Peterson, 35, an unemployed construction worker from Detroit, said he had plenty to be thankful for.
"I'm thankful we have a president who understands we're going through a hard time," Peterson said as the parade passed. "I'm thankful they extended unemployment (benefits) because there ain't no jobs around here. It's kind of like government showing yeah, they care."
Curtis Wengrzynowicz, 42, of Wyandotte, gathered with friends for a tailgate party a few blocks from Ford Field before the football game.
The Ford Motor Co. employee wasn't sure how the 2-8 Lions would fare against the 6-4 Packers, but he still had the holiday spirit.
"To be working, to have a job, I don't think you could be more thankful than that," Wengrzynowicz said.