77th St. & Central Park West to 34th St. & Seventh Ave.
Big Balloon Blow-Up: Wednesday, November 27, free, 3:00 – 10:00 pm
Parade: Thursday, November 28, free, 9:00 am – 12 noon
212-494-4495
www.macys.com
In 1924, a bunch of Macy’s employees joined forces and held the first Macy’s Christmas Parade, as it was then known. This year Macy’s celebrates the eighty-seventh edition of this beloved American event. (For those of you going crazy trying to figure out how 1924 to 2013 makes 87, the parade was canceled from 1942 through 1944 because of World War II.) The 2013 lineup features sixteen giant balloons, including Hello Kitty, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Julius, Spider-Man, Pikachu, The Wizard of Oz, Toothless, Finn & Jake, and Snoopy & Woodstock; thirty floats, among them the Enchanting World of Lindt Chocolate, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Winter Wonderland in Central Park, Mount Rushmore’s American Pride, and the Oneida Indian Nation’s True Spirit of Thanksgiving (seriously); fourteen novelty balloons, from Arrrtie the Pirate, Uncle Sam, and Baseball and Football to Pumpkins, Planet Earth, and Virginia; and three balloonicles, highlighted by the Spinning Dreidel, all making their way down Sixth Ave. from Central Park South to Herald Square. (However, heavy wind conditions could ground many of them.) The myriad clowns and marching bands will be joined by such performers as Richard Simmons, Miss America, Gavin DeGraw, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Fall Out Boy, the cast of Duck Dynasty, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, Goo Goo Dolls, Mannheim Steamroller, Joe Namath, Mike Richter, and other athletes, singers, and actors, headed by ringleader Amy Kule. To get a start on the parade, head on over to Central Park West and Columbus Ave. between 77th & 81st Sts. the day before, November 27, from approximately 3:00 to 10:00 to check out the Big Balloon Blow-up. Watching the annual inflation-eve blow-up of Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons is a growing tradition, with crowds getting bigger and bigger every year, but it’s still a thrill to see the giant characters raised from the ground, reborn every Thanksgiving to march in a parade viewed by millions and millions of people around the world. (For further information, you can get the official parade app here.)