The pilgrims arrive for another Turkey Day in NYC (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
77th St. & Central Park West to 34th St. & Seventh Ave.
Thursday, November 26, free, 9:00 am – 12 noon
212-494-4495
www.social.macys.com/parade2009
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-third year of this beloved American event. (For those of you going crazy trying to figure out how 1924 to 2009 makes 83, the parade was canceled from 1942 through 1944 because of World War II.) And for the first time in its history, the parade will go down Central Park South instead of Broadway before turning onto Seventh Ave. This year’s lineup features such floats as Dickens Christmas, Jolly Pirate Ship, 123 Sesame Street, Local Heroes Helping Every Day, Bountiful Harvest Cornucopia, and Yo Gabba Gabba and such giant balloons as Buzz Lightyear, the Energizer Bunny, Horton the Elephant, Pikachu with Pokeball, Shrek, Smurf, Snoopy as Flying Ace, Spider-Man, and Super Cute Hello Kitty. Among the lip-synching celebrities on hand will be Alan Cumming, Andrea Bocelli, Carly Simon, Gloria Gaynor, Jane Krakowski, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, the Pizzarelli Quarter, and Ziggy and Judah Marley.