Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

This past year Macy’s celebrated its 80th year of bringing us the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  The first parade was held in 1924 by Louis Bamberger in Newark, NJ.  The first parades had floats, bands, and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo.  In 1927 when the first balloon, Felix the Cat, made its appearance they stopped using live animals.  The most anticipated participant of the parade is Santa Claus who always arrives at the end of the parade.  The parade has been celebrate every year since 1924 except during WWII, 1942 – 1944, due to the need of the rubber an helium for the war efforts.  

In 1947 the movie "Miracle on 34th Street" brought the magic of the parade to theatres.  The first television broadcast of the parade was in 1952 on the CBS network.   In 1955 it was switched over to the NBC station and has been hosted by the Today Show members.  The parade was originally broadcast for 1 hour until the 1960’s then it was broadcast for 2 hours, and finally in the 1970 it started being broadcast for the full 3 hours of the parade.  The parade has had many performers over the years that have either co-hosted or performed during the parade.  There have been performances from the various Broadway shows as well as various musical performers.

Manhattan has always been the location for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  The original parade route was 6 1/2 miles and started in Harlem at 145th street and ended at Herald Square.  The current parade route starts at 77th and Central Park West and ends at 34th street and 7th Ave which is only 2 1/2 miles.  The current parades host a variety of talent and many new and amusing floats and balloons that depict the changes over the years from the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.