DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit's Thanksgiving Day Parade wouldn't be complete without it's colorful jumble of jesters. About 200 members of the Distinguished Clowns Corp woke up this morning, painted their face and threw on their big shoes to march the three-mile stretch.
That walk is something that one clowning family, the Feinbloom's, take planes, trains and automobiles to get to.
This is Rosie Feinbloom.
"I am a strategy analyst at Bank of America," Rosie said.
That's her professional title 363 days of the year, but every Thanksgiving Day, she wears a different hat.
"We are distinguished clowns of the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade," Rosie said. "I live in North Carolina now for work and this was a mandatory thing. I told my bosses there’s no way I’m missing this."
Rosie's distinguished clown-hood started six years ago.
"I am the tennis clown," Rosie said. "To put it in perspective of how important being a clown is, I wrote my college essay on being a clown."
Her aunt, Jill Leib, was the first to put on the paint and walk the three-mile Thanksgiving Parade route in 2011
You could refer to her as the gateway clown.
"I came home afterwards - and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I called Lisa and I said 'you got to join next year,'" Jill said.
Rosie's Mom, Lisa, jumped on board the following year. She put on the clown suit for her Mom, Rosie's Grandma's last Thanksgiving.
"So we became clowns that year," Lisa Scholnick Feinbloom said. "After the parade we went back and we took a picture with her and that was her final year...and the kids said you know what? We want to be apart of the parade in memory of Nana going forward."
And years later, they're still keeping the tradition going. Rosie, her brother David, and Dad David, now are full-fledged clowns themselves.
Danny, a veterinary student at Ohio State, is flying in just to make it to this year's parade.
I’ll be coming home for a quick 20 hours really just for the parade," Danny said. "Even though it’s just one holiday and one quick day, especially this year its worth spending the time together when we can."
If you're coming across one of the corp's 200 distinguished clowns, you'll notice that each of them is wearing a solid shiny fabric, and half is uniquely themed.
Rosie explains the method behind the madness.
"Your first five years, you have your fabric and then a white side," Rosie said. That signifies that you’re like a new clown. The next five years, 5-10 you have a silver side and then your fabric. And then 10-15 you have a gold."
The Feinbloom's are wearing their favorite themes on their sleeves, and heads, all saying if you're celebrating Thanksgiving with their family, you'll be slinging beads instead of turkey.
"Thanksgiving Dinner isn’t the priority," David said.
"To do it as a family it’s such a special day," Rosie said.
"They’re with you and they’re rooting you on and they’re excited to see you and you’re excited to see them," Lisa said. "It just makes it happen, it’s easy. You just want to be a part of it."
