The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the most popular parade held on Thanksgiving Day in the United States and garners international coverage from a variety of different news stations. The parade got its start in 1924, making it the second oldest Thanksgiving Day parade that is held in the United States. The only older parade is the America’s Thanksgiving Parade which is held in Detroit every year, and started in 1920.
The event starts at 9 AM on Thanksgiving Day every year, and lasts for approximately three hours, although sometimes delays may cause the parade to last a bit longer. The Parade was first dreamed up by the Macy’s company. During the 1920’s, the employees of Macy’s were mostly first generation immigrants to the United States, and they were looking for a way to show their appreciation for the country and celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving with an event that was similar to many of the events that were held in Europe.
The original parade only featured employees from the store and a host of professional entertainers. They did manage to put together a number of different floats, along with live zoo animals and a professional band. Many of the animals that were featured in the parade were actually borrowed from the Central Park Zoo, solely for the event.
The most popular float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the Mickey Mouse float. It has become the most popular float year in and year out since it first debuted in 1934.
In 1927, animal shaped balloons replaced the live animals that the parade had featured during their first few years. Helium was used to fill the balloons and help them rise above the ground. In 1928, the performers attempted to let the balloons sail off into the sky, but to everyone’s surprise, the balloons popped soon after they were released. This led to the inclusion of a safety valve that allowed the balloons to flat for a number of days.
The Parade continued to grow for several decades after it was first celebrated. By 1933, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade had attracted more than one million people, making it the most successful parade of that time. Along with the parade, a number of street merchants and food stands were set up to further capitalize on the popularity of the event.
Every year a new balloon is added to the rotation. Many of these balloons are taken from popular cartoons or popular culture. Some years featured the introduction of as many as five new balloons. As certain characters fell out of the pop culture, they were excluded from the parade. Along those same lines, a number of balloons have been brought back years after they were removed from the parade. Although many of the balloons included in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade are characters from popular children’s cartoons and television shows, the audience is overwhelmingly adult year in and year out. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a popular event that has become a tradition of not only New York City, but of the nation as a whole.
