The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is stepping off on Nov. 23 for its 97th march through New York City. Millions of spectators will be watching the parade (either in-person or at home) as it unfolds on Thanksgiving morning.
Here are a few tidbits about the parade that you might not know and can impress your friends and family with when you watch the parade together.
There are seven new balloons this year
That’s right! This year, seven new characters have been added to this year’s parade balloon lineup. Joining the parade are Beagle Scout Snoopy from “Peanuts,” Blue Cat & Chugs from “Cool Cats,” “Po” from Kung Fu Panda, Monkey D. Luffy from “One Piece,” Leo from “Leo,” Uncle Dan from the upcoming film “Migration,” and the Pillsbury Doughboy.
There are also four new floats this year
In addition to new balloons, we’ve got new floats too! The new floats include Igniting Memories by Solo Stove, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem by Nickelodeon and Paramount, Palace of Sweets by BRACH’S®, and The Deliciously Delectable World of Wonka by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Goku is the tallest balloon in the parade
The character from the popular “Dragon Ball” anime universe stands at a whopping 56 feet tall. The Leo balloon is the longest at 73 feet long, and the Monkey D. Luffy balloon is the widest at 39 feet wide.
The largest float is Santa’s sleigh
Yup, Santa’s iconic sleigh is 60 feet long and 3.5 stories tall, making it the largest float in the parade. Santa always closes out the parade, with the exception of when he led the parade in 1932.
It takes a huge team and a lot of time to build the parade floats
The Parade Studio team has approximately 27 painters, carpenters, animators, sculptors, welders, scenic/costume designers, electricians and engineers, all of whom are putting over 8,000 hours into the construction of the floats. Each float takes approximately four months to construct.
There are 300 pounds of glitter in the parade floats
Good thing there’s not a lot of carpet on the parade route. Throughout the parade floats, there are 300 pounds of glitter, 200 pounds of confetti and 2,000 gallons of paint.
The parade is streaming on Peacock
No cable? No problem. If you cut the cable cord and still want to watch the parade from the comfort of your home, you can watch the parade on NBC’s streaming service Peacock. That said, if you have cable, you can always watch the parade on NBC or Telemundo starting at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.
For more information about the parade, visit macys.com/parade.
