I LOVE A PARADE

vintage Philadelphia

It may shock you as racy and huh, well, modern, as I can be, I'm am very surprisingly deep in traditions. I love to keep the old traditions going and like to keep childhood memories alive. For that reason I love parades. Our fair hamlet here has a fourth of July and a Halloween parade, and if I'm around I always go. I think it is a good way to keep the feeling of community alive and get out and meet some of the neighbors. But the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Philadelphia Parade always are part of my holiday traditions. Watching the parade while the tempting dinner cooks with smells of turkey, sage, thyme, stuffing and all the fixins. I can smell it already. Since the company I work for is owned by Macy's, we are eligible to be in the parade, as dancers and balloon handlers. While I have never done so, as I'm usually away, several of my co-workers have and said it's quite something. Over the past 88 years, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has become an irreplaceable staple of Thanksgiving festivities.  Every year, millions of Americans flock to the streets of Manhattan to see the parade in-person or gather around their television sets to watch the parade from home.  But we're all given a swell facts book about the parade and I found some of these facts quite interesting. Did you know?

The first Macy's Day Parade was on November 27 in 1924 and was referred to as the Macy's Christmas Parade. The parade originally featured Macy's employees and live animals from the Central Park Zoo. Floats, instead of balloons.

An estimated 250,000 spectators attended the first parade. Today, about 3.5 million people attend.

Balloons replaced live animals in 1927. Macy's first parade balloon, Felix the Cat, was filled with air, but balloons started to be inflated with helium the following year. Initially, the balloons didn't have a safety valve to release the helium, so they were released into the air at the closing of each year's parade. Each balloon had a return address label attached to it. Beginning in 1929, Macy's began offering a $50 reward to anyone who returned a balloon. This only lasted until 1932, when Macy's found it to be a safety hazard.

The first Mickey Mouse balloon debuted in 1934, while fellow Disney character Donald Duck was introduced in 1962.

Today, about 2-3 thousand volunteers are needed to handle the balloons. Each volunteer must weigh at least 120 pounds and be in good health. Each balloon is handled by about 50 volunteers.

The parade was suspended during WWII from 1942-1944 because rubber and helium were needed for the war.

The parade became a more prominent part of American culture after footage from the 1946 parade was featured in the movie 'Miracle on 34th Street.'

NBC has been the official television broadcaster of the parade since 1952. And for years Betty White and Lorne Green were the hosts for the parade.

The Radio City Rockettes appeared in the parade for the first time in 1957.

After 9/11, Macy's reintroduced an old Harold the Fireman balloon from 1948 to commemorate those who helped in the aftermath of the attacks.

I'd be remised if I didn't mention Philadelphia. The Macy’s parade in New York often gets all the attention and credit on Thanksgiving Day, but not many people realize that the very first Thanksgiving Day parade took place in Philadelphia in 1920, and hosted by Gimbels.The Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade almost didn’t happen in 1986, when the department store was bought by Sterns. Fortunately, ABC decided to take over and remains the main sponsor to this day. 

Are the Thanksgiving Parades something you watch or part of your traditions?