The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is set to return in full this year for its 95th annual holiday celebration, with all the giant balloons, overpacked crowds, awkward musical performances, and random celebrity sightings New Yorkers love and have come to expect. That is, of course, barring any unforeseen circumstances potentially getting in the way between now and then, but when during this pandemic has something gone wrong planning a giant NYC-is-open event months in advance?
"On Thanksgiving Day, the spectacle will once again delight New York City spectators and a national television audience with its signature mix of giant character helium balloons, fantastic floats, marching bands, performance groups, celebrities, clowns, and the one-and-only Santa Claus," Macy's said in a statement.
Some major details about the event, including public viewing locations and access/vaccination rules for the crowd, won't be announced until closer to the event. But Macy's says that all volunteer participants and staff will be vaccinated, all participants and staff will wear face coverings and additional protective equipment as needed, social distancing will be in place at all interior/exterior parade operations, and there will be an overall reduction in the number of participants by 10-20 percent (approximately 800 to 1,600 fewer participants).
Despite that reduction, Macy’s says that its signature giant character balloons will once again be flown with 80-100 handlers.
The parade, which has happened every year since 1924 (except for three years during World War II), was radically pared down last year to minimize the number of people who had to be there in person to operate everything. There were only about 25 humans assigned to each balloon last year, with 12 giant balloons instead of the usual 16, and 18 floats instead of the usual 26.
And instead of the typical 2.5 mile parade route, the whole thing took place around Macy's flagship store in Herald Square, and because the event did not have any in-person crowds, much of it was pre-filmed before that Thursday. There was also an attempt to stuff in brief appearances by other NYC parades that had been cancelled in 2020.
The end result was strange and underwhelming, befitting the mood of the city at that point in the pandemic.
While we wait for more details about this year's iteration of the parade, I highly recommend everyone check out the sketch "Capital Room" from the second episode of the second season of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, a Shark Tank parody which involves a major mishap at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. You'll never look at the Charlie Brown balloon the same way.
