A hulking security guard, finely dressed in a suit and overcoat, loomed over a small, open gap in the chain link fence at the corner of 15th and Willow streets in Hoboken this afternoon.
Passersby may imagine that lurking in the warehouse behind him were the remnants of a soap factory or coat warehouse; in fact, it was packed with quacking ducks and dancing elves, Kung Fu Panda and Dora the Explorer, entertaining Mrs. Rodriguez's fourth-grade class from the Connors School.
It was the annual Studio Day at the workshop where the floats for next week's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade are constructed and stored before their passage into Manhattan.
The studio will be moving to Moonachie, but that won't be until 2012's parade, a representative said.
For today, Joel Naprstek, a studio artist-designer from Park Ridge, guided classes from the fenced-in courtyard housing Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure float, where the Nickelodeon title character waved to the passing children as they headed inside, past a stories-high rocking giraffe, and were greeted by tiers of elves waving hands, stomping and hopping feet. For the elves, the performance also served as a dress rehearsal.
"This is my first year doing this event. I'm a student at Broadway Dance Center, I'm doing the training program. One of my teachers choreographed this so I volunteered,'' Matthew Hooper said, leaning over the float's railing, resting for a breath between visiting groups.
The elves have only had two rehearsals before today, 90 minutes each, but while this is their debut before the media -- news cameras following the school groups -- there is still another rehearsal to come.
Beyond the elves, KiKi and KaiKai look shy by comparison. The modest plush characters with wide eyes and fanged teeth are the creations of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.
"We worked with him this year to build these two balloons,'' Naprstek explained, holding up a blown-up photo of the inflated balloons. "And you can see in the background these are test-floated indoors.''
While many of the balloons are tested at an event Macy's calls "Balloonfest'' -- held a few weeks earlier at New Meadowlands Stadium -- Kiki and Kai Kai were kept out of sight. Still, even the costumed actors and photographs were the focus of so much foreign press present as Murakami is seen as the Andy Warhol of his homeland.
Not all the floats had such lofty associations.
Branded floats work to make the most of the worldwide attention the parade receives, like a slow motion version of NASCAR. An enormous duck represented Homewood Suites, and the state of South Dakota, ambitious to attract tourism, was responsible for a float of Mount Rushmore.
A giant, old-fashioned oven overflowing with gingerbread men, frosted cupcakes and chocolate drop cookies, was sponsored by Morton Salt.
Naprstek explained, in a way a child can begin to understand capitalism how crafting floats and sponsorship co-exist.
"Because salt is used in cooking and baking, we decided to make an old fashioned stove," he said.
As the students finished the studio tour they each received a Smurfs gift bag from Macy's weighted with books and toys, a Dora the Explorer Christmas calendar, a "Despicable Me" plush, and, on top of them all, a Morton Salt Racing Champions toy car.