Assuming that you are not out on Thanksgiving morning shopping for a Black Friday deal, then you might be partaking in a Thanksgiving tradition of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. The parade is watched by over 3.5 million people in New York City and 50 million viewers at home, and it celebrates its 88th anniversary this year.
In a recent press release, Amy Kule, executive producer of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade stated "this is a record breaking year for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as we debut the largest new cast of giant character balloons ever assembled, along with five amazing new floats".
The giant balloons are the highlight of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and this year, there will be six new giant balloons floating through the street including Pikachu from Pokemon, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Red Might Morphin Power Ranger, the Weinstein Company's Paddington bear, a lava-spewing Skylanders Eruptor, as well as Thomas the Tank Engine.
Of course there are plenty of other famous characters returning, such as Adventure Time with Finn & Jake, Diary of A Wimpy Kid®, The Elf on the Shelf®, Hello Kitty®, Papa Smurf, Ronald McDonald®, Snoopy and Woodstock, Spider-Man, SpongeBob SquarePants and Toothless of How to Train Your Dragon.
There will also be some novelty balloons sponsored by different companies, but don't represent any cartoon or film franchise. This year will also showcase some new balloonicles, which is a Macy's hybrid of cold-air balloon and vehicle. Among the balloonicles this year will be the Aflac Duck, Cloe the Holiday Clown, as well as the KOOL-AID Man. Another balloon-related attraction will be balloonheads from The Wizard of Oz, in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the film's release.
The balloons are only part of the fun as there will be several floating scenes including: Cracker Jack® Popcorn's At the Ball Game; Sino-American Friendship Association's Beauty of Beijing, Dora and Friends: Aventuras Fantasticas, GoldieBloxTM's The Girl-Powered Spinning Machine, and Pirate Booty®'s Treasure Hunt.
In addition to the balloons and the floats, there will be many celebrities such as Big Apple Circus, Before You Exit, William Blake, Sabrina Carpenter, Cirque du Soleil, Hilary Duff, Renee Fleming, Becky G., Lucy Hale, Nick Jonas, KISS, Sandra Lee, The Madden Brothers, Idina Menzel, Miss USA 2014- Nia Sanchez, MKTO, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, NEED TO BREATHE, NHL® legends John LeClair and Pat LaFontaine, Pentatonix, Romeo Santos, Cole Swindell, Meghan Trainor, The Vamps, Quvenzhané Wallis, and more.
Also at the parade will be several marching bands, clowns and other performance groups. There will be twelve performance ensembles from all across the world including Macy's Great American Marching Band, with features students from all 50 states who rehearse less than 1 week before the parade. As for the clown groups, there will be over 20 clown groups throughout the parade. There will also be many performance groups like the Harlem Globetrotters, the Friendswood High School Wranglerettes, The New Orleans Baby Doll Ladies feature Music Amabassador DJ Hektik, the Red Hot Mamas, Spirit of America Dance, and the Varsity Spirit Cheer.
In addition to all the pageantry, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will also be fully interactive. Fans that follow the parade with @macys will be able to access special content from the Confetti Carpet. The New York Daily News' Big Apple float is also going to take panoramic photos all across the parade route, and spectators might be able to find themselves in the 360-degree photos.
For those who want to watch the event at home, it will be on NBC from 9 AM to noon on Thursday, November 27, 2014 in all time zones. It will be hosted by the TODAY Show's Matt Lauer, Al Roker, and Savannah Guthrie. For those that want to be there in New York, there is much information on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade website and TimeOut New York site detailing the highlights of the parade including pre-Thanksgiving balloon inflation. Viewers can also download Macy's Parade App on Goolge Play or the Apple store to get facts, tips, route, and more.
EarthCam also offers live stream online for the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.
