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8 Things You Never Knew About the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Last updated 13th November 2018

This year on November 22, New York City will host the 92nd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with 26 floats, 16 giant character balloons, and over 8,000 people processing through the city streets. Over 3.5 million people will watch the event live (and bundled up), while more than 50 million people will tune in from the comfort of their living rooms. But what has become a fond Thanksgiving tradition for many in the United States has some little-known fun facts. Wow your friends and family this holiday with some Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade trivia.

The Parade Was Initially Christmas-Themed

The “Macy’s Christmas Parade” debuted in 1924 as a way to celebrate the expansion of Macy’s flagship Manhattan store, which would now cover an entire city block and became the self-proclaimed “World’s Largest Store.”

The Original Parade Was 6 Miles Long

Beginning at 145th street in upper Manhattan and ending at the Macy’s flagship store on 34th street, the 111-block parade took many hours to complete. Horses were hitched to the parade floats and dragged the festivities halfway down the island.

Not Everyone Was In Favor Of Holding The Parade on Thanksgiving

Two years after the first parade, the Allied Patriotic Societies protested, telling Macy’s that it shouldn’t hold the event on Thanksgiving because of interference with Thanksgiving Day worship and because it wasn’t appropriate for a commercial company to hold a parade on the holiday.

Balloons Were Released Into The Sky at The End of One Parade

The animal-shaped balloons were attached with string and paraded through New York City. The first year, Macy’s had no plans for deflating its balloons, so they were released into the air, where they quickly burst. All changed in the 1928 parade when Macy’s released five huge figures into the sky at the end of the parade. These balloons were built around helium balloon bodies, which slowly leaked the gas. They were expected to rise up to 3,000 feet and emit a slow leak to stay aloft for up to 10 days. Whoever returned the balloons once they came down would receive a $100 reward.

Mickey Mouse Made His Parade Debut in 1934

Macy’s designers collaborated with Walt Disney to create the 40-foot-high, 23-foot-wide balloon, which required 25 human attendants to keep him from floating away.

The Parade Was Paused During World War II

There were rubber and helium shortages during World War II, so Macy’s canceled the parade from 1942–1944. The company donated its deflated rubber balloons to the government to help the war effort.

Floats Can Fold Into A 12’x8′ Box

They’ve got to get through the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan somehow! Since 1968, the floats have been designed at Macy’s Parade Studio in New Jersey. The floats can be up to 40 feet tall and 28 feet wide, but they fold down into a compact 12-foot-by-8-foot box.

Parade Balloons Are Not Cheap

From pencil sketch to clay model to miniature replica to helium testing to fabric cutting to heat sealing to painting to flight tests… it costs a pretty penny to create a balloon of this scale. First-time balloons cost at least $190,000 and take up to a year’s worth of preparation for that inaugural flight.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of America’s biggest and most anticipated holiday celebrations. Broadcast nationally on NBC, the TODAY Show’s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker will host the three-hour broadcast from 9 a.m. – noon (in all time zones).