Wantagh teacher gets in character

While millions of Americans spent Thanksgiving morning watching the Macy’s Parade from their couches gearing up for an afternoon of feasting, many ventured into New York City to see the balloons and floats firsthand.

Christine Torrellas, a teacher at Forest Lake Elementary School in Wantagh, was in a third category. She was in the parade, having played the part of Mother Goose for the past seven years.

Torrellas got involved 14 years ago, when her sister, Trish Ketelsen, worked for Macy’s and was in charge of planning the parade and other special events. Parade participants must be sponsored by a Macy’s employee, so she and other family members decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Torrellas is the only one who still does it.

The first year, Torrellas and her daughter carried a banner, but she soon joined the clown division. Every year, there are hundreds of people dressed as different types of clowns who take part in the parade, and she was once one of them. Over the years, she was a fireman clown, an alphabet block, a piece of cake and a banana.

Eventually, she took over the role of Mother Goose. As she walks down the street greeting the crowd each year, Torrellas holds a goose and a book of nursery rhymes. She noted that Mother Goose is a fading character, but is part of American folklore and the literature tied to the imaginary author is very important.

Torrellas loves to go up to children in the crowd and talk to them about their Thanksgiving plans, but also about reading. “The teacher in me comes out,” she said.

Last week, she walked alongside a pirate ship for the entire parade route and was with other storybook characters including Old King Cole, the Queens of Hearts from “Alice in Wonderland” and Jack from “Jack and Beanstalk.”

Being in the parade meant getting to New York City by 6 a.m., and waking up at 4 a.m. She arrived at the New Yorker hotel, where she entered a ballroom filled with costumes. After suiting up — in her distinctive red coat that allows her family and friends to find her on TV — she went into another big room for makeup. Then, it was downstairs to get on a bus to the beginning of the parade route, where she waited for her placement.