Believe … Dream … Inspire … Anthony Tussie, a middle school health teacher and member of the Hicksville Congress of Teachers for 11 years, had a wish on his “bucket list” fulfilled this Thanksgiving when a childhood dream —participating in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — came true. A Tussie family tradition has always been to start off Thanksgiving morning by watching the parade, with its signature giant balloons, whimsical floats and performers taking over the streets of New York City. The arrival of Santa Claus at the end of the parade would always ring in the Christmas and holiday season for Tussie and his family.
Encouraged by a colleague whose aunt is the executive producer of the parade, Tussie officially entered his name for consideration as a parade performer by filling out an online application over the summer. He received an invitation at the end of September officially welcoming him to the parade. He was selected as one of 950 “clown participants” who would march with nearly 50 balloons and 40 floats along a parade route lined with an expected 3.5 million people, while another 50 million viewers would be watching on television. Included in those numbers would be Tussie’s four daughters, including his 3-year-old twins who were thrilled to learn that their “daddy” would be part of the “Racing Rabbits” bunch that would “get moving” with the help of the one and only Richard Simmons.
On Thanksgiving morning, Tussie took the 3:45 train from his hometown of West Islip to New York City. He had to be at the New Yorker Hotel at 5:30, at which time he was given his costume and made up by a professional make-up artist from Macy’s, before being bused to Central Park West and 77th Street (the beginning of the parade route, also known as “Clown’s Corner”).
For the next hour and a half, the smile never left Tussie’s face. As he threw confetti at the children along the parade route, he made it a point to “high five” every hand that reached out to him as he walked over to the sidelines so that no one would feel disappointed.
“Richard Simmons kept calling us his little bunny rabbits and gathered us together many times during the course of the parade so that the crowd could take pictures of us,” Tussie recalled. The highlight for Tussie was bringing smiles to the faces of children in wheelchairs and children with Downs Syndrome who were thrilled to interact with “a bunny!”
Several of Tussie’s students got caught up in the excitement and asked their parents to take them to the parade so that they could cheer on their teacher. Many more captured the parade on their DVRs and paused the TV when they saw their teacher so that they could take a photo of the TV screen to bring to school on Monday.
Although Tussie had to return his costume, he chose not to wash off his make-up before riding the train back home. “My kids went nuts when they saw me — I came into the house like a rock star — I was the pride of my family that day,” exclaimed Tussie.
When asked what he took away from his experience, Tussie responded, “As I told my students and my own children — follow your dreams! When you get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you don’t want to miss out on it! There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing millions of smiles and making people feel happy!”
(Anthony Tussie is a member of the Hicksville TA)