New York \u2014\u00a0A century after the first Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the annual holiday tradition kicks off Thursday in New York City with new Spider-Man and Minnie Mouse balloons, zoo and pasta-themed floats, performances from Jennifer Hudson and Idina Menzel, and more. This year\u2019s star-studded lineup is a far cry from the parade\u2019s initial incarnation, which featured floats showing scenes from Mother Goose, Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Miss Muffet and the Spider, and other fairy tales. Some things remain the same, though. As in 1924, there will be plenty of marching bands and lots of clowns, followed by the grand finale of Santa Claus riding through Manhattan and ushering in the holiday season. This year’s parade features 17 giant, helium-filled character balloons, 22 floats, 15 novelty and heritage inflatables, 11 marching bands, 700 clowns, 10 performance groups, award-winning singers and actors, and the WNBA champion New York Liberty. One new float will spotlight the Rao\u2019s food brand, featuring a knight and a dragon in battle made with actual pasta elements. Another will celebrate the Bronx Zoo\u2019s 125th anniversary with representations of a tiger, a giraffe, a zebra and a gorilla. \u201cThe work that we do, the opportunity to impact millions of people and bring a bit of joy for a couple of hours on Thanksgiving morning, is what motivates us every day,\u201d said Will Coss, Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade executive producer. The parade begins at 8:30 a.m. on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side and ends 4 kilometers away around noon at Macy\u2019s Herald Square flagship store on 34th Street, which serves as a stage and backdrop for performances. It’ll happen rain or shine \u2014 the parade has only been canceled three times, from 1942 to 1944 during World War II \u2014 but organizers will be monitoring wind speeds throughout the festivities to make sure it’s safe for the big balloons to fly. So far, the forecast calls for rain with temperatures in the upper-40s and winds around 16 kph, well within the acceptable range for letting Snoopy, Bluey and their friends soar. New York City law prohibits Macy\u2019s from flying the full-size balloons if sustained winds exceed 37 kph or wind gusts are over 56 kph. The parade airs on NBC with hosts Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker and streams on the network’s Peacock service. Carlos Adyan and Andrea Meza will host a Spanish simulcast on Telemundo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York \u2014\u00a0A century after the first Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the annual holiday tradition kicks off Thursday in New York City with new Spider-Man and Minnie Mouse balloons, zoo and pasta-themed floats, performances from Jennifer Hudson and Idina Menzel, and more. This year\u2019s star-studded lineup is a far cry from the parade\u2019s initial incarnation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":495,"featured_media":25808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/495"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}