On a crisp November morning in 1924, eager crowds lined the streets of midtown Manhattan, braving the cold to catch a glimpse of the hot air balloons, marching bands, and vibrant floats making their way down the parade route.
This was the inaugural Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which would soon become an iconic American tradition and kick off the holiday season in style year after year.
The parade was the brainchild of Macy’s employees, who drew inspiration from the raucous carnivals of Europe.
They decided a parade would be the perfect way to celebrate the opening of the department store’s flashy new flagship location on 34th Street.
The first parade unveiled stunning window displays, employee marching bands clad in vibrant costumes, and floats depicting popular fairy tales and exotic animals from the Central Park Zoo.
It concluded with Santa Claus himself arriving at the end on a float, ushering in the Christmas spirit.
The early parades were mostly a local spectacle, with only about 10,000 people attending.
But by the 1930s and 40s, the parade had secured its place in American culture and became a can’t-miss event both for New Yorkers and those watching on their black and white televisions nationwide.
Here’s a look back at the key milestones that catapulted the Macy’s parade to national fame and cemented its status as an essential Thanksgiving tradition.
Table of Contents
The Golden Age of Parade Firsts: Novelty Balloons, Floats, and Iconic Imagery
Throughout the 1930s and beyond, the parade steadily incorporated new elements that became signature traditions and wowed crowds year after year.
In 1927, the parade featured its first giant balloon, an air-filled Felix the Cat, hovering above the street. Felix was a hit, sparking inspiration for more balloon characters.
The early balloons were inflated entirely with air and required up to 100 handlers guiding them with ropes along the route.
Macy’s designers embraced innovative mechanics and technology to develop even more elaborate balloons.
In 1931, they debuted a 60-foot tall balloon, Behemoth, with a grin that could be manipulated with wires, essentially giving America’s first giant balloon a personality.
That same year marked the inaugural release of the Parade’s first novelty balloon, filled with low-density helium so it could fly higher and behave less like a stubborn kite for its handlers.
This inaugural balloon starred Eddie Cantor, a popular comedian, ushering in an era of celebrity and pop culture-inspired balloon features.
More crowd-pleasers arrived in 1932 with the debut of the first balloon based on a licensed character, the 60-foot-tall Mickey Mouse.
This decade also welcomed the inaugural Popeye balloon in 1937, along with the first massive cartoon-character helium balloon of Superman soaring above the crowds in 1939.
Disney worked closely with Macy’s designers for over twenty years beyond that first Mickey Mouse, resulting in stunning balloons bringing to life iconic characters like Pluto, Donald Duck, and the ultimate parade showstopper—a giant 147-foot long snake-like balloon for the one and only Pinocchio.
Innovation pushed the designs even further in the 1940s when the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company engineered an updated balloon material that incorporated latex.
This allowed the giant inflatables to be filled with air on the bottom and helium on the top, better controlling their flight above excited city streets.
With this new technical capability, balloons continued expanding to monumental scales in the 1950s, becoming the colossal titans that dominate the skyline today.
Crowd favorite Underdog debuted as a towering 78-footer with a spinning globe between his paws in 1965. Even Snoopy topped 70 feet tall in 1968 as he spread holiday joy while wearing ice skates and earmuffs.
Balloons may have generated early buzz, but extravagant floats also dazzled crowds from the first few parades. Colorful fairy tale scenes came to life in those earliest years as float designers incorporated new themes and engineering feats.
Comics and consumer products increasingly inspired floats like the 60-foot long “Alice in Wonderland” book float of 1937 featuring sequenced pages that turned automatically as it glided along the route.
The holiday ambiance shone through new additions, such as the Santa’s Workshop float, which debuted in 1927 and blew imitation snowflakes onto the crowd.
And in 1933, parade-goers gawked as a mammoth 22-foot tall alarm clock rolled down the street, its bells tolling loudly.
Popular characters joined the party in 1947 when the “Mickey Mouse Fun House” float rolled down the route featuring a towering 70-foot tower with Mickey Mouse cheerily peeking around it.
Through these early decades of innovation, the parade cemented signature elements still featured today, such as showstopping Santa Claus floats, playful animal features like bears and turkeys, and a festive procession of tap-dancing reindeer.
By the 1950s, technologies brought the first television broadcasts of the parade to families nationwide, ensuring its iconic moments and balloons would inspire awe coast to coast.
Rising Styles and Showbiz Power: Classic Americana Reigns Supreme
As the parade grew, certain artistic and thematic styles left an indelible mark and came to represent American culture and pageantry at its best.
Norman Rockwell’s classic illustrations epitomized idyllic Americana in the first half of the twentieth century.
His Boy Scouts-themed painting “We Thank Thee” served as inspiration for a float in 1951 featuring giant turkeys and a procession of the Scouts themselves marching along in uniform.
Rockwell’s style shone through again in 1965 with a float modeled after his Saturday Evening Post Thanksgiving illustration featuring a bustling family smiling around a turkey dinner table.
The float impeccably mimicked the style with faux wooden beams and fixtures, adding stunning dimension as it traveled the route.
Americana style took the spotlight throughout subsequent decades as well, with the “Heartwarming Holiday Express” series of trains debuting in 1986 featuring old-fashioned railway cars with families waving from the windows and ice skaters twirling on a frozen lake as the train passed by.
The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes have long been a star element, kicking off the parade with their iconic routine as the marching bands follow behind them.
Their glamorous costumes and camera-ready dance moves represent the full splendor you expect from New York’s beloved entertainment scene.
Broadway musicals and plays captured attention through the years as well with floats promoting shows like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s hit “South Pacific” in 1950, the pageantry-filled musical “Camelot” in 1981 featuring a towering 50-foot Camelot castle, and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Cats” in 1983 with performers from the musical dancing and singing among oversized props of shoes and yarn balls.
Nothing represents spectacle and showbiz like the bright lights of Las Vegas, and fittingly, some of the parade’s most over-the-top floats highlight Sin City nostalgia.
It began in 1966 with a sparkling showcase of the famed Golden Nugget casino featuring an illuminated four-foot tall signboard surrounded by six dancing showgirls and even slot machines and card tables aboard the rolling creation.
The “Only in Las Vegas” float dazzled in 2010 with a rolling replica of the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign and nods to iconic casino fixtures and tours.
For brief periods, the parade also collaborated with popular media franchises of the times for promotional tie-ins that tapped into national interests.
The year 1966 welcomed a 75-foot long float dubbed “Universal’s Salute to King Kong” featuring a giant King Kong climbing the Empire State Building as biplanes tried to defend the city.
In 1977, kids witnessed the parade’s first Star Wars float shortly after the movie’s summer debut, this one featuring two rolls of Death Star battling X-wing Starfighters manned by some of their favorite new heroes.
So whether it was the spectacle of Broadway, Vegas-style extravagance, Rockwell’s wholesome scenes, or the magic of Hollywood, the parade represented the pinnacle of American entertainment through the decades.
Embracing Culture and History: Specialty Balloons Bring Meaning and Representation
Beyond pure spectacle, the parade also embraced powerful themes of representation and cultural meaning over the years through specialty balloons and floats reflecting the nation’s diversity and values.
The legacy begins with the 1975 debut of the Believe balloon featuring a majestic Dalmatian sitting among stars and the moon while upon an illuminated book reading “Believe.” This inspirational balloon is intended to telegraph themes of imagination and the boundless creativity children possess.
In the 1990s, new specialty balloons recognized monumental women in history who paved the way for future generations.
The 1997 parade featured a Sitting Bull balloon honoring legendary Native American tribesman and the 1990 parade included a towering tribute to the unstoppable Annie Oakley holding pistols with a target-adorned skirt.
One of the most impactful balloons debuted in 2005, Sesame Street’s “Celebrating Mealtime” feature, highlighting different cultures and food traditions.
The balloon consisted of four children clutching iconic foods from their backgrounds—pizza, a taco, fried chicken and watermelon, and rice cakes with chopsticks. On the float itself, giant replicas of healthy vegetables and portions showcased the bounty and joy that meals bring when embracing inclusiveness.
In 2017, the parade showcased its first balloon starring a superheroine, the mighty Wonder Woman herself, commemorating the character’s 75th anniversary and representing female power.
The year 2020 marked a pinnacle achievement for representation, diversity, and cultural meaning, with a slate of new balloons unveiled after the COVID-related cancellation of live crowds the year prior.
Making headlines was Tiptoe the rambunctious cat, starring in her own children’s book series specially created to promote early literacy and add more diversity to the publishing world.
Tiptoe stood proud in butterfly wings, helping showcase new voices.
Additionally, the first figure commemorating a real-life scientist brightened the 2020 skyline.
Dr. Mae Jemison, the trailblazing first African American woman to travel in space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor, gleamed in her orbital Science Lab coat with the Earth behind her amidst a sea of stars.
It joined the inaugural Ronald McDonald balloon in 1987, which was the only two balloons specifically honoring real individuals’ accomplishments rather than fictional characters.
Finally, the same year saw the debut of the Boss Baby balloon glancing importantly at his watch, likely reminding viewers that all our precious time should focus on embracing diversity and people from all walks of life without judgment.
Incredible Facts About the NYC Thanksgiving Day Parade
Propelling Popular Culture Forward: Balloons as National Ambassadors
As television and entertainment evolved over the decades, the parade’s balloons served as key promotional tools spotlighting beloved characters and franchises playing central roles in American pop culture.
In 1985, the parade debuted the first balloon featuring characters from Peanuts, Charles Schultz’s iconic comic strip.
While Charlie Brown and Snoopy had appeared decades earlier, this special balloon grouped Charlie Brown, Linus, and Lucy together, ushering Peanuts as a franchise into a new generation.
Throughout the 1960s and onward, Disney productions, from movies to theme parks, held center stage at the parade as beloved character balloons promoted their films and TV shows.
In 1966, the parade promoted Walt Disney’s latest live-action film, The Happiest Millionaire, starring Fred MacMurray, with a 25-foot tall balloon featuring two of the movie’s characters smiling in Victorian-era attire while strolling through the sky.
Balloons like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum arrived in 1987 to spotlight Disney’s latest theme park attraction, “Mickey’s Toontown” at Disneyland. The Alice in Wonderland villains waved at the crowd from their wobbling 30-foot perch.
And Disney/Pixar’s monumental movie Toy Story ushered computer animation into the mainstream when it arrived in the mid-1990s.
Naturally, Woody and Buzz Lightyear balloons dueled across the sky in celebration starting in 1995 as the franchise propelled into a merchandising and box office powerhouse.
The parade also highlighted the hottest television shows through new balloon features like 1998’s Dexter from the Cartoon Network cult hit Dexter’s Laboratory.
Costumed characters even acted out scenes atop specialty floats featuring shows like Nickelodeon’s Rugrats in 2001.
Country singer sensation Dolly Parton achieved her own balloon likeness in 2019 as the singer enjoyed a career resurgence from her Netflix series as well as renewed interest in her music and personal stories of her upbringing.
And the largest balloon to ever appear in parade history debuted in 2020—the four-story tall and 70-foot long Boss Baby hovering above while promoting the character’s new Netflix series and keeping him firmly planted in nationwide conversations.
The Next Era: Enchantment for a New Generation
After nearly 100 years of magic, the parade promises to keep innovating with even more vibrant balloons, celebrity cameos and nods to major media franchises. It heralds the start of a new roaring 2020s decade.
The twentieth parade of the 21st century will air in November 2022, once again uniting families around their television while kids cuddle up excitedly with their favorite stuffed animals and holiday sweaters.
Despite endless entertainment options today, the spectacle still enchants each new generation.
The parade represents collective memories across age groups, whether nostalgia for vintage balloons like Underdog or seeing the latest Minion characters that kids adore today.
It bridges the past and present through enduring icons like Santa floating through the concrete canyons at the finale as snowflakes fall gently in the brisk city air.
Just as the 1927 parade concluded with Santa arriving to signal the official start of the Christmas season, so too will this year’s parade satiate crowds with holiday magic, signaling the most wonderful time of the year has begun.
As new elements evolve, the parade promises to stay grounded by favorite balloons like Smokey Bear celebrating his 75th anniversary in 2022. New character balloons will share the sky in harmony with classics like snoozing Garfield, the cat, and marshmallow-loving Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Just as the Radio City Rockettes have kicked off every parade for nearly a century, their precision dance moves will continue ushering in Santa’s arrival, marking the start of the holiday season for generations young and old bonded by nostalgia, sparkling dreams, and belief in the enchantment of New York’s biggest spectacle.
The 2022 parade will fittingly honor the legacy of the late great composer Stephen Sondheim, who reinvented Broadway musicals for a modern era with his exacting lyrics and witty wordplay.
A new specialty balloon features Sondheim himself sitting at a piano while musical notes float through the November air around him.
As Sondheim once wrote about his legendary shows that transformed theater, “something new and memorable creates a oneness,” binding young and old through enchantment.
So, too, the magic of Macy’s Parade will continue to create a powerful oneness for every generation lucky enough to share in the spectacle.
