Attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade is one of the best ways to celebrate Thanksgiving if you are in New York. This is one of the most famous and iconic parades in the USA attracting above three and a half million spectators in the street of New York and over ten thousand participants. The parade normally consists of live bands, gigantic floats and enormous helium balloons. The parade was established in 1924 and will celebrate its 90th year of existence in 2014.
The number of live spectators of this parade amounts to over three million million and number of people watching the show from their home TV sets is estimated at a staggering 50 million. The parade was initially started as a small event run by Macy’s employees and was originally a Christmas parade. It was in 1927, 3 years after the first parade that it was renamed to Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Over the years, the parade has evolved into what is it today with preparations for the event now requiring almost a whole year.
The parade’s very first balloon character was the popular Felix the Cat and the first route of the parade began at 145th street. Over more than eighty years of existence of the parade, numerous injuries have been triggered by the balloons. One of the most serious injuries to occur happened in 1997 when a Cat in the Hat balloon hit a lamp post hard. The fallen debris caused fractures to a woman’s skull plunging her into a coma that lasted for a month.
