One of the must-watch events of Thanksgiving Day in the US, the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade — founded as Macy's Christmas Parade in spite of the date, and often shortened to simply the "Macy's Day Parade" — is held in New York City every Thanksgiving, presented by the department store Macy's; the parade's route always ends at the main entrance to the retailer's flagship 34th Street location. Launched in 1924, it is one of the nation's longest-running Thanksgiving parades.note Boasting a slew of spectacularly-designed balloons and floats, augmented with dance groups, marching bands and appearances from celebrities, the parade ends with the arrival of Santa Claus and is considered by many to be the official start of the American Christmas and holiday season each year.
In The Roaring '20s, many of the Macy's employees were first-generation immigrants, who wanted to celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving with a big street party like the ones they had in their native countries. And thus, the Macy's Christmas Parade (as it was originally named, despite being held on Thanksgiving Day) was born. While there were still floats and clowns, the first few parades didn't feature any balloons — their spot in the parade was taken by live animals, borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. The balloons were only brought in because the animals being used in the parade included lions and tigers, which were scaring children along the route.
The years have brought many changes to the event. For example, the parade didn't get any actual Celebrity Endorsement until Harpo Marx appeared sometime during The Great Depression — tough to imagine today, since the parade now runs on star power as diverse as KISS, Meghan Trainor, and Cicely Tyson. As time marches on, the floats continue to become more and more elaborate (Cracker Jack's 2014 livecam-featuring float and the specially-designed 2013 float for Cirque du Soleil being the most impressive so far) and, along with the balloons, designing and creating them have grown to become an art form. And, difficult though it may be to believe today, the parade really wasn't all that well-known outside of New York until the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street boosted its reputation just as it was recovering from a World War II-induced multiyear hiatus.
The parade can be viewed in person along the parade route, which spans from Central Park West to the Macy's store on 34th Street, and the store's entrance has VIP seating which can only be obtained through contests and the like. For those who can't make it, NBC has televised the parade annually since 1952 to millions of viewers worldwide, while CBS shows their own, unofficial coverage from the middle of the parade route (in fact, the CBS coverage was a factor in the parade's decision to change the route, so that NBC could keep it away from their rival). Both networks provide color commentary from their morning show hosts, although NBC's coverage, mainly provided by the Today tag team, is usually seen as the more interesting (though possibly more polarizing, depending on your opinion of the hosts) to experience. Meanwhile, because CBS's coverage cannot feature many of the good bits (such as the musical/Broadway performances), they substitute their own in the form of extra padding, including holiday recipes and extended interviews as well as their own musical performances.
From the Turn of the Millennium onwards the parade has increasingly embraced the presence of the internet, including a 2006–07 poll for viewers' favorite floats and balloons on the NBCUniversal-owned iVillage site, utilization of the Shazam and Zeebox (now Beamly) apps, and a brief stint with iTunes in 2012. Despite all this, they haven't lost touch with their roots, and are known to acknowledge it during the parade itself, most often during milestone celebrations; in conjunction with that they'll usually bring out a recreation of a long-retired balloon (although nowadays this will mostly be because said balloon will be ported to Universal Orlando the following month for the Macy's Holiday Parade,note making for a Negated Moment of Awesome on the part of NBCUniversal).
What's also worth noting is that while it has featured particularly egregious Enforced Plugging and Product Placement, especially from The '80s onwards, the parade (along with Philadelphia's older Gimbels/Ikea/Dunkin' Donuts parade, affectionately referred to as simply "The Philly Parade") could be the Ur-Example/Trope Maker/Trope Codifier for Product Placement Name. And while at least 90% of the modern usage of this trope is for said product placement (often during sports programs), the parade has been run primarily by actual Macy's employees since day one. Even the celebrities who appear have to become Macy's employees just for the week.
The Macy's Day Parade is the biggest Thanksgiving Day parade, but not the only one. The America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit (which also dates back to 1924) pre-empts the Macy's Parade locally on WDIV-4, NBC's Detroit affiliate,note and can also be seen in edited form in syndication on many affiliates nationally, usually that same day. The Chicago Thanksgiving Parade is also well-known and can be seen locally on WCIU-26,note and from 2007–18 it too was carried nationally, over the cable superstation WGN America. Furthermore, the Philadelphia and Houston Thanksgiving parades can also be seen outside of their markets via in-state syndication.
Official site.
More detailed info can be found, as always, on That Other Wiki (here). The parade's fascinating history, along with some of the more interesting bits, was also acknowledged by NBC in a prime-time special aired in conjunction with its 85th anniversary in 2011, and that has been uploaded in its entirety on YouTube.
