Is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade a tradition in your family? The parade first took place in 1924 which makes it the second oldest Thanksgiving parade in The United States. This parade is 3 hours long, starting at 9:00 AM and ending at noon Eastern Standard Time. It starts in Manhattan and ends outside of Macy’s Herald Square. The parade’s workforce is made up of Macy’s employees, their friends, and their families who all volunteer to be in the parade.
The first parade took place in 1924; store employees were dressed in vibrant costumes, and the floats contained professional bands and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. At the end of the first parade Santa Claus was welcomed into Herald Square, on the balcony at the store entrance where he was then crowned “King of the Kiddies,” with an audience of over 250,000 people watching. The parade was a huge success, so it was declared that this would become an annual event.
The first time balloons were used during the parade was in 1927. The first ever balloon was named “Felix the Cat.” The balloon was filled with helium and released into the big blue sky.
Through the 1930s, the parade continued to grow and crowds of over 1 million people would show up to watch the parade. The parade became so popular that it was set to broadcast over radio stations in 1932. The practice of releasing the balloons into the sky stopped in 1932 because one balloon wrapped itself in an airplane wing. The warmest the parade has ever been performed at was 69 °F in 1933. The first Mickey Mouse balloon entered the parade in 1934.
During the 1940s, the parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 as a result of World World ll, since rubber and helium were needed for the war effort, the parade resumed in 1945. In 1947 the event was shown in the film, “Miracle on 34th Street” which included footage of the 1946 festivities. The event had its first broadcast on television in 1948. The first featured performance was in 1949 with Milton Berle, it was his first debut.
Throughout the 1950s, In 1952 the crocodile balloon had its front leg punchard mid parade. The parade had its first appearance on NBC in 1953 and has been showing on NBC ever since. In 1955 crowds reached its highest so far with 2.25 million people appearing to watch the parade. In 1957 during his debut popeyes hat filled with water and drenched the people below. The toy soldier balloon made its debut in 1950 but retired in 1958.
In 1962 Donald’s Duck hat filled with water and drenched the people viewing below. Betty White was the host in 1965. Macy’s creative team started to build parade floats in 1968. In 1969 Snoopy was dressed as an astronaut to celebrate the moon landing.
1971 was the only time balloons were ever grounded, each balloon had a risk due to windy weather conditions. In 1972 Donald Duck’s wing got caught on a tree branch and popped but continued to fly! In 1975 heavy rains caused a minor flood but did not stop the performers despite the challenge.
In 1985, The New York City Police Department Highway Patrol started to lead the parade. In 1984 The Balloons started to be created by Raven Industries. The Betty Boop Balloon made her debut in 1985. In 1986 the Superman balloon had his hand cut off by a tree which ended up being carried the rest of the way.
During the 1990s, Kermit was flying to honor the creator of the muppets who passed away in 1990. In 1993 Sonic the Hedgehog crashed into a lamppost and broke an off-duty officer’s shoulder. In 1995 Dudley the Dragon was speared and deflated on a lamppost which caused glass to shower on the crowd. In 1997 the parade had its windiest day in history, winds reached 40 miles per hour which made the balloons very hard to control. The cat in the hat balloon struck a lamppost and injured 4 people, one woman was in a coma for a month.
In the year 2005, the M&M balloon got caught on the lamppost, two sisters were struck by the falling debris, and they got a lifetime supply of M&Ms. The 2006 parade holds the record for the wettest parade with 1.72 inches of rain. In 2008 a Balloon took out an NBC camera taking photos.
In 2011, the Kool-Aid man deflated and fell over. Buzz Lightyear ripped his helmet and flew into the river, his handler ended up in the hospital. The recorded coldest day during the parade was in 2018 with a temperature of 19 ° F. The cast of Sesame Street led the parade in honor of the show’s 50th anniversary in 2019.
In 2020 due to the COVID-19 virus, the parade was downsized and closed to the public. It was decided that the parade would be filmed as a broadcast-only event. In 2021 the parade returned to its tradition of an in-person parade with 6500 participants. In 2022 the NBC broadcast marked the first time it was entirely hosted by women.
If you plan to watch The Macy’s Thanksgiving parade this year, you can find it on the NBC and Peacock channels from 9 a.m. to noon in all time zones. However, if you’re a big parade lover, you can attend this parade in NYC.
