New York’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Turns 100 With a Wild History

If the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is part of your holiday morning like it is mine, you’ve probably watched those giant balloons float by and wondered how it all got started. I love that it began with the people who worked at Macy's, and it still shows up on our TVs in the Southern Tier every Thanksgiving morning. Here is how a department store parade turned into a New York tradition.

Why the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Began in New York City in 1924

The first parade stepped off at 9 a.m. on Nov. 27, 1924, from 145th Street and Convent Avenue in Harlem, according to HISTORY. Macy’s called it the Macy’s Christmas Parade. The store had just expanded its Herald Square flagship to cover an entire city block, and the parade was meant to show it off at the start of the holiday shopping season.

Many Macy’s employees at the time were first-generation European immigrants, and the parade marched six miles from Harlem to Herald Square. The procession itself stretched only two city blocks. Macy’s promised the public “a marathon of mirth” in its newspaper ads.

Macy’s Christmas Parade Santa Claus Finale at Herald Square

The 1924 parade included floats based on Mother Goose characters and four bands. Macy’s employees dressed as clowns, cowboys and knights. Animals on loan from the Central Park Zoo, including bears, elephants, camels and monkeys, marched along the route.

Santa Claus rode on a float at the back of the parade. At noon, about 10,000 people cheered as he arrived in front of the Herald Square store, where he was crowned “King of the Kiddies.” He then signaled the unveiling of a Christmas window display designed by artist and puppeteer Tony Sarg. The next day, Macy’s announced that the parade would return the following Thanksgiving.

HISTORY also notes that the idea of a store-sponsored Thanksgiving parade didn’t start with Macy’s. Gimbel Brothers in Philadelphia staged one in 1920.

Why Macy’s Replaced Central Park Zoo Animals With Balloons

The live animals did not last long in the parade. Valerie Paley, chief historian of the New York Historical Society, has said the zoo animals were dropped by 1927 because they frightened children along the route. Character balloons took their place and became the parade’s signature attraction.

Tony Sarg and Goodyear Built the First Macy’s Parade Balloons

The balloons trace back to Sarg. During the fourth annual parade in 1927, he introduced the enormous inflatable characters, according to the Smithsonian. Felix the Cat was among the first. Those early balloons were not filled with helium, and teams of puppeteers, often Macy’s employees, held them up. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, produced them. By 1928, the balloons were filled with helium.

New characters kept coming. Mickey Mouse made his parade debut in 1934.

Macy’s Parade Balloon Releases Ended in 1932

In 1928, the parade ended with the helium balloons being released into the sky over the city. The following year, the balloons had release valves, and Macy’s offered rewards to people who captured and returned them. The practice ended in 1932, when a pilot flying a biplane tried to capture a balloon and nearly crashed after it wrapped around the plane’s wing.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Route, TV Coverage and the 100th Parade in 2026

The route has been scaled back to two and a half miles, though the parade now includes dozens of balloons, marching bands, celebrities and cheerleaders. NBC has televised it nationally since the early 1950s.

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The parade marches for the 100th time on Thursday, November 26, 2026. It didn’t reach its 100th in 2024 because it was canceled in 1942, 1943, and 1944 during World War II. This year, it starts at 8:30 a.m. at West 77th Street and Central Park West, and street viewing is free. The broadcast airs live on NBC and Telemundo and streams on Peacock.