With Thanksgiving “floating” towards us, many people are curious about this year’s famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They obviously will have their signature giant balloons, gorgeous floats, and stellar performances for viewers both on the street and at home. This year, the parade will be marching through Manhattan for the 80th year, which is a huge milestone.
The master of everything creepy and crawly, Tim Burton, designed one very exciting balloon for this year’s parade. It’s called B. Boy and it will float alongside Kermit, Scooby, and Garfield. This balloon is a reincarnation of Burton’s character of the same name, which in his original story is an inflated boy, stitched from leftover balloons from children’s birthday parties. This balloon is sure to be hit!
Along with some new blow-ups, there will also be many live performers. The parade will host eleven marching bands from all over the United States, including some from Tennessee, Colorado, Florida, and of course, New York City.
Over nine groups, including United We Sing, Alma Boliviana, and 610 Stompers, will make live performances. There will also be many celebrities on moving floats performing, like Chris Brown, Gloria Estefan, Miley Cyrus, and Sarah McLachlan. Marching with all of these people will be various clowns from different circuses, which is always a fun sight to see!
This year’s parade route will start at 77th Street and Central Park West and will end at Macy’s in Herald Square at 34th Street and 7th Ave. It will travel through Columbus Circle, then move to Central Park South onto 7th Ave, and will eventually arrive at Macy’s.
The route is over two miles and will bring in many spectators on the street. For those who don’t attend in person, the parade will be broadcast live on NBC, with hosts Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer, at 9 AM on Thanksgiving Day. Also, the night before, from 3 PM to 10 PM, the enormous helium balloons will be on display near the Museum of Natural History.
This American Thanksgiving tradition is sure to put us in that Thanksgiving mood to eat a ton of turkey and pumpkin pie!
