What is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?🦃

The following video provides a brief history of the parade which occurs every Thanksgiving Day in New York City. Teachers, find us on TpT: *** Like us on Facebook: *** Each year, families across the country begin their Thanksgiving Day by watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. How did this yearly tradition start? In the 1920s, there were many immigrants living in large cities such as Boston, Chicago, and New York City. These immigrants were proud of their new American home and desperately wanted to participate in the country’s holidays and customs. So, in 1924, the Macy’s Department Store (which employed many immigrants) decided to hold a parade in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday. A mix of employees and hired performers marched through the streets of New York City. The parade featured many of the elements of the modern spectacle, including floats, performers, and live animals. At its conclusion, Santa Claus was introduced to the crowd while sitting on a balcony above the Macy’s store. Over 250,000 people attended this first parade, and Macy’s instantly declared that it would be an annual event. Three years later, in 1927, an important feature was introduced. That year, crowds first saw the large balloons, usually in the shape of cartoon characters. The first resembled Felix the Cat, who was a popular animated figure of the silent film era. Many different characters have appeared over the years, but the reigning champion is Snoopy. Snoopy has regularly been featured as a balloon since 1968, and has been represented by six different balloons during that time. Originally, at the conclusion of the parade, these balloons were released into the air. The balloons would travel for several days before losing air and landing. Address labels were sewn to the balloons, and those who found them could mail them back to Macy’s and receive a gift. The parade continued to become more and more popular throughout the 1930s. The parade route was expanded, and eventually more than one million people would line the streets to watch the parade go by. In the early 1940s, the parades were cancelled because of World War II. It was determined that the rubber used to create the parade balloons would be better used for the war efforts. Therefore, from 1942-1944 there was no parade. The first parade to be broadcast on television was in 1948. Every parade since that year has been seen on television by an ever-expanding audience. To this day, it is broadcast yearly by both NBC and CBS. Today, it is estimated that over 44 million Americans watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade each year.