The Thanksgiving Day Macy’s parade is an annual parade held on Thanksgiving Day every year since 1924. Since it started in1924 it is now the second oldest Thanksgiving parade with Detroit’s in first. This parade starts at the Central Park Zoo in New York city. It begins at 8:30 A.M and usually goes to about noon. All the floats used to be of animals at the zoo, but now they are of various other things, including the animals. This parade’s purpose was originally to boost sales during the holidays and to highlight Macy’s brand-new store. Now it is still used for that purpose but also has become an annual thing that must go on.  

This year’s Parade took place on Thursday November 28th. It was the 98th Macy’s day parade. It was the biggest one yet. Within the parade there were 17 giant character balloons featured. The characters vary from Snoopy, to Mickey Mouse or SpongeBob SquarePants. There were 22 different floats. These floats take months to create and are exceptionally large. They all have different people in them performing for the audience. There were 15 novelty and heritage inflatables, which supported all different cultures. Lastly there were 11 marching bands, 700 clowns and 11 performing groups.  

This year was said to not only be the biggest parade ever but also the best. Freshman Sam McCabe also agrees with this. She watched part of the parade and loved it. “I did not watch the beginning of the parade because it was too early, but I did watch most of it and I have to say it was my favorite parade yet. I loved all the different floats and performances this year.” Many people and families love to watch this parade either in person or on the television. Some people go to New York city for the holidays but sadly cannot go every year to watch the parade. That is like Holly Haberlin, she has gone to New York for Thanksgiving for a few years but not all. Whenever she does go, she and her family always attend the Thanksgiving Day Macy’s parade. On the years they do not go to the city they like to watch part of the parade at home. “We love to go to New York City and celebrate Thanksgiving there, but we have not gone in a few years. Even though we do not go as much I still love to watch it on TV with my family.” The parade is such a fun tradition and hopefully it continues to happen!