Celebrates 25th Year Of Clowning For Macy’s Parade

Before stepping off in the 2009 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Joe Ricevuto showed off the 25th version of his clown makeup and costume especially for the Queens Gazette. For the 25th year Joe Ricevuto of Jackson Heights was a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “I was awake and waiting at 3 a.m.,” Ricevuto said. “I was in the beginning of the parade, so everyone was up for the fun. I was one of the confetti clowns— we threw it at the crowds and they laughed so much! And it was the best weather ever. All the people were ever. All the people were so happy!”

Ricevuto and his wife, Teena, first took their son, Joseph, and daughter, Maryann, to the Macy’s parade more than 35 years ago. Ricevuto told his family how much he wanted to be a clown in the parade and finally his daughter sent her father’s request to the parade director. Ricevuto was called in for an interview and in 1984 for the first time donned costume, wig and clown makeup. He has been in every parade since. Several years after Ricevuto signed on as a volunteer clown Teena Ricevuto died, but his family can be found at every parade cheering on their clown father and grandfather from the sidelines.