Things You May Not Know About Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

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Originally dubbed the Macy’s Christmas Parade, the first Thanksgiving Day parade was staged in 1924 by employees who marched from 145 Street down to 34th Street dressed as clowns, cowboys, knights and sheiks along with floats, professional bands and 25 live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. At the end of that parade, Santa Claus was welcomed into Herald Square, enthroned on Macy’s balcony and crowned “King of the Kiddies.” photo credit: acnatta

After the first parade attracted more than a quarter of a million people, the department store’s executives decided to take control of the parade from employees. Some things stayed the same: Santa remained the star, but the wild animals scared some kids, so they were replaced with giant balloons.

Mickey Mouse made his parade debut in 1934; Walt Disney personally oversaw the building of the 40-foot Mickey Mouse. The Tin Man appeared as a 70-foot balloon in 1939, while “The Wizard of Oz” was still in theaters. The Tin Man was later repainted in a green and yellow suit and became “Laffo the Clown.”

Felix the Cat, who made his debut in 1927, was the first balloon to appear on the parade. Manufactured by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, Felix was filled with air and traveled the parade on a string attached to a parade participant. The following year the parade balloons would be filled with a mixture of helium and air.

At the finale of the 1928 parade, the new balloons were released into the sky where they unexpectedly burst. The following year they were redesigned with safety valves to allow them to float for a few days. At the end of the parade, the balloons were released into the sky and Macy’s announced that it was give $50 to people who found the balloons and returned them to the store.

It sounded like a good idea, but the thought of $50 led some to go overboard. In the first year, two tug boats rushed to be the first to retrieve a massive dachshund balloon from the East River, destroying the dog in the process. Other balloons came back to the store riddled with bullets.

In 1931, an airplane pilot hooked a balloon with a rope and flattened Felix the Cat. Macy’s sent out a proclamation disqualifying aviators, but still another pilot from nearly going into a tailspin over Long Island, trying to retrieve a balloon. From then on, old balloons were put away until needed.

The balloons themselves have also caused problems over the years. In 1941, the Santa Claus balloon burst at the seams after his handlers tried to overstuff him with air. A few years earlier a balloon known as Father Knickerbocker got his nose stuck in the elevated train line at Lincoln Square. In 1956, Mighty Mouse couldn’t fight 45-mph winds and collapsed in a heap. In 1985, rains left the Kermit the Frog balloon so waterlogged that handlers had to carry the big green guy down the street. photo credit: aka Kath

But things changed a bit in 1997 after spectators were injured by balloons caught up in 30 mile per hour winds: Sonic the Hedgehog lost his head; the Nestle’s Quik Bunny lost an ear and police had to cut the tail off the Pink Panther to keep him under control. The Cat in the Hat crashed into a lamppost, knocking debris into a crowd on 72nd Street and injuring several people, including one woman who was in a coma for nearly a month. In the aftermath, New York City imposed stricter guidelines: The parade would no longer allow balloons more than 70 feet tall, 40 feet wide or 78 feet long and mandating that balloons be grounded if the wind goes above 23 mph.

The parade was suspended from 1942-1944 because of the shortage of helium and rubber during World War II. Those three years are the only time the celebration has been called off. A helium shortage in 1958 seriously threatened the parade. Macy’s suspended the floats on cranes instead.

The 1963 parade, scheduled for three days after the funeral of President John F. Kennedy, was going to be canceled until newly sworn-in President Lyndon Johnson urged Macy’s to go through with the parade. Every flag bore seven feet of black bunting.

After the Sept. 11 attack, parade officials vowed to heighten security, and more than 2 million people showed up. To honor the police and firefighters who died when the twin towers collapsed, the parade was headed by a troop of children of New York City firefighters and policemen. And Harold the Fireman, a 32-foot balloon who debuted in 1946, returned to the parade.

The parade was broadcast on television for the first time in 1945 and since 1945. the parade has followed the same route, a 43-block trek that begins at 77th Street and Central Park West; travels south to Columbus Circle; turns onto Broadway; follows Broadway to 34th Street; turns west onto 34th Street right after the Macy’s Herald Square store; and ends at Seventh Avenue.

The parade became a permanent part of American culture after being prominently featured in the 1947 film, “Miracle on 34th Street,” which shows actual footage of the 1946 festivities. The event was first telecast nationally in 1952.

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