For as long as I can remember, my Thanksgiving morning has consisted of eating cinnamon rolls, helping my parents prepare Thanksgiving food in the kitchen, and listening to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade play on the television in the background. We'd also record it (plus the National Dog Show) and watch them both later on in the evening after dinner when our guests had gone home, and enjoy them with undivided attention. The only exception to this routine was the few years during which I was in marching band and had to play at my high school's Thanksgiving Day football game. Even then, though, we'd record the parade and watch it later on in the evening. No matter what, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has always been a constant.
The first Thanksgiving parade took place in 1920, but it wasn't put on by Macy's. Gimbels Department Store actually came up with the idea and their parade still exists today as the 6ABC Dunkin Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade. The first Macy's Thanksgiving parade took place on November 27th, 1924 but as a Christmas Parade to boost holiday shopping. The parade theme was nursery rhymes to match the Macy's holiday window display, the theme of which was also nursery rhymes. With live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo and Santa bringing up the rear, the parade was deemed a success and became an annual tradition and it gained even more popularity nationwide after the film Miracle on 34th Street came out. The iconic, larger-than-life character balloons became a staple of the parade a few years later, eventually replacing the live animals.
Photo Courtesy of NBC/Getty Images
Since 1924 the parade has almost always gone off without a hitch. It was suspended from 1942 to 1944 due to WWII, but has otherwise never been canceled. Even this year with the global COVID-19 Pandemic, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is still happening, though in a very different format. This year's parade will not march down the streets of Manhattan, but rather will be a television-only event to avoid crowds and will feature performances from favorites like the Radio City Rockettes, Pentatonix, various Broadway casts, Santa Claus, and many more!
How the famed character balloons are to be incorporated in this new format is a bit of a mystery, but they are on the official Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade lineup so we'll just have to wait and see! Snoopy (with Woodstock) from the Peanuts has been the balloon to appear in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade the most times. At last count he was known to be in the parade 38 times, according to Forbes. There are very detailed specifications for when to fly, versus ground, the balloons for the safety of all (based on temperature, wind conditions, etc.), but the balloons were only ever grounded in 1971. According to Wikipedia, 2018 was the coldest parade to date at 19°F, 1933 was the warmest parade to date at 69°F, and 2006 was the wettest to date with 1.72" of rain.
Photo Courtesy of NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images
In 2018, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade made LGBTQA+ history when actresses Caitlin Kinnunen and Isabelle McCalla shared a kiss during their The Prom performance; the first same-sex kiss in the parade's broadcast history.
Every year the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade brings joy into our homes and provides us with memorable moments. We are very fortunate that this year will be no exception and that the parade will still go on, even if it looks a little different! Take the time to really enjoy the parade this year. If you're going to be cooking and baking in the morning, set it to record so that you can put your feet up at the end of the evening and watch it in full with no interruptions. This year has been so unpredictable that it's really important to enjoy the small pleasures in life.
I hope you enjoyed reading this slightly sentimental article with all sorts of fun factoids about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We are only a few weeks out from Thanksgiving and this should get you into the spirit of the season! There has never been a year in which it is more important to be thankful for what we have and our loved ones around us.
Next week's holiday featured article will be Greetings From... NYC and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Starring the Rockettes! I'm super excited for this one, because it was a trip I always wanted to take and a show I always wanted to see. It will be published next Thursday at 8pm. And, as always, tune in on Monday for my Mac Weekly Highlight!
If you enjoyed this article, feel free to give it a heart and a share. Every bit of exposure helps me connect with new readers, which I greatly appreciate! You can also connect with Mac Claire on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Spotify, and hit "subscribe" on the Mac Claire website to get our weekly email so you never miss an article.
Thanks for being a reader and I'll talk to you soon!
~Claire
Sources:
History Channel
CNN
Forbes
Wikipedia
4NBC New York
Macy's
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