New float unveiled for Thanksgiving Parade

The first section of the float, labeled Think Tank, features large Lego blocks.

Jay Farner, right, Quicken Loans' president and chief marketing officer, road on the float with Tony Michaels, president & CEO of The Parade Company, which built the float. "We think this float really represents everything that's happening in the city of Detroit -- all the re-invention of the city that's going on right now," Farner said.

The second section is a 45-foot-long, anthropomorphic robot lying on its belly, moving its ankles back and forth while looking through a virtual reality visor and holding a tablet.

The third section of the float features a colorful rocket with a hydraulic arm that can lift it 25 feet in the air. It's accompanied by a couple of astronauts and bellows steam from its tail. The rocket is a nod to two of Quicken Loans' sister companies, RocketLoans and Rocket Fiber, a high-speed Internet service provider.

The float is one of eight new floats in this year's America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, sponsored by Art Van. The parade down Woodward Avenue goes from West Kirby to Congress, about 2 1/2 miles.