Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade History

by Gordon Clark | November 26, 2009 at 10:11 am

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Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is one of the world's most renowned parade in the world. It has had dedicated fans since its debut in the 1920s. Here is a little Macy's Thanksgiving parade history lesson and time line of the best parades since then:

1924 - To celebrate their new citizenship first generation immigrant employees of the New York Macy's department store put on a Macy's Christmas Parade. The floats were local celebrity entertainers and animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. The parade was such a success with over 250,000 attendees that Macy's declared that the parade would be an annual event.

1927 - The animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo were replaced by the first rubber balloon characters. The first ever balloons was an oxygen filled-tethered to a truck Felix the cat.

1928 - Many more characters were introduced to the Parade and were all filled with helium so they would float in the air. At the end of the parade the floats were released into the air. Macy planned to release them into the air with identification in them so whoever found them once the landed again could claim a gift from Macy's. Unfortunately Macy's didn't account for the expansion of the air in the floats as they elevated. They popped soon after they passed the height of the buildings.

1932 - The parade began its broadcasts over New York radio. The Parade continued to grow in popularity with crowds reaching over 1 million.

1933 - Disney began to supply floats for the parade. The first was Mickey Mouse.

1942-1944 - The parade came to a halt for the first time in history because of rubber and helium shortages due to the war.

1945 - The Parade began its broadcasting on TV for the first time.

1957 - Heavy rain filled the cap of the large Popeye balloon. during the parade the float head tipped and water poured all over the spectating fans.

Since the 1970s the Parade coverage by TV stations has bee so spectacular that broadcasters have received a total of 9 Emmy awards.

The character with the most total appearances is Snoopy the Flying Ace (from Charlie Brown)

The Macy's Parade has continued to grow through the decades in local and international popularity. It has had many features in movies and television with increasingly incredible floats. For a complete float list check out this.

Also, check out this years Thanksgiving parade.