In 1924 during the Roaring Twenties, Macy’s, a very popular department store was prospering and began the process of building the biggest store in the world. The showcase of the 1 million square foot building would hopefully start the beginning of the shopping season.

 The parade was originally thrown during Christmas time, in hopes of helping and motivating shoppers for the holidays. Macy’s threw a parade on the morning of Thanksgiving although it was meant to be the spark of the Christmas shopping season.

Around noon at the Macy’s Herald Square about 10,000 people were surrounding the parade. They never expected it to be such a huge success and they continued it for many years; it soon became a holiday tradition in New York and broadcasted nationwide.

At first, the parade started off with live animals. However, this did not last long because the parade was about 6 miles long and the animals often scared younger viewers; this led Macy’s to replace them with inflatable attractions.

Now, the parade’s length is shortened to only two-and-a-half miles but has increased the number of inflatables. The parade has now become more of a Thanksgiving tradition, yet it was based on Christmas; Santa Claus always makes his iconic appearance.

Now, the parade is held yearly on Thanksgiving for millions of people to celebrate. There are about 6,

At 9 a.m. on the morning of November 27, 1924, the department store held a 6-mile-long, police-escorted parade. Despite the length, the parade was only about 2 blocks long. Within Macy’s stores, they had nursery rhyme-based Christmas displays in their windows. To flow with the theme, many of the floats were based on nursery rhymes.

1000 participants that make this parade come to life. This year, a popular new show “Bluey” is getting a float and it is being added to the parade. Freshman Alice Bell shares her opinion on the new addition, “I’m incredibly excited because my cousins love Bluey and it’s like she’s getting her own little trip into the US 

and we’re accepting that. Bluey is just so cute.”

Although the parade is called the Thanksgiving parade, it celebrates so much more than just that. Bell shares, “I just think it’s fun because they have so many different floats and representations. There’s a huge range of interests and it can include everyone. I really think it’s fun because they do little performances. I’m a visual person and I enjoy seeing all the stuff. Even the stuff I don’t get much I find interesting. The floats with performers are my favorite and I think it’s kind of just a fun American thing, my family and I don’t do too much for Thanksgiving but we all like to watch the parade together.”