The first balloon, designed and constructed by Tony Sarg, was an image of Felix the Cat was about 15 feet tall, was filled with air rather than helium, and was displayed on the back of a truck "The Puppeteer Who Brought Balloons to the Thanksgiving Day Parade— A Thursday morning tradition came with strings attached", by Jimmy Stamp, Smithsonian magzine online, November 27, 2013 Robert M. Grippo and Christopher Hoskins, Images of America: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (Arcadia Publishing, 2004) p7, p14, p156