100 Years of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

The 98th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade coverage is slated from 8:30 AM to 12PM ET Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024.

This year’s event will feature 28 clown crews, 26 floats, 16 giant balloons, 11 marching bands, five performance groups, three “baloonicles”—cold-air inflatables driven down the parade route, and numerous performers.

Stacker curated a selection of photographs from the past century of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to help illustrate the history of the iconic event.

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The parade in New York City, presented by department store chain Macy’s, was first held in 1924 under the heading “Macy’s Christmas Parade” to promote holiday sales and spotlight the newly expanded and, at the time, largest in the world Herald Square store in Manhattan. The success of the event led organizers to turn the spectacle into an annual tradition. Each year, the parade ends outside the same Herald Square Macy’s location.

The event has been televised nationally since 1953 on NBC.

The parade at first featured Central Park Zoo animals escorted by Macy’s employees and professional entertainers for 6 miles from 145th Street in north Manhattan’s Harlem to Macy’s. A quarter of a million onlookers lined the streets. Real animals were replaced with balloons in 1927; that same year, the name of the event was changed to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The longest-running parade float is the event’s unofficial mascot, Tom Turkey. Tom features moving wings, head, and eyes and usually functions as the lead float in the parade. Bringing up the caboose in virtually all the parades is Santa Claus who ushers in the holiday shopping season with his arrival at Macy’s Herald Square.

Yes, he has a name. The longest-running parade float is the event’s unofficial mascot, Tom Turkey.

Pop Culture, Milestones, and Record-Breaking Moments of the Parade

The parade offers a glimpse into pop culture of the time, from beloved children’s entertainment to hit Broadway shows and musical acts. The Radio City Rockettes, formed in 1925, have performed in the parade annually since 1957.

In 1933, the outside temperature was 69 degrees F, the warmest it’s been; 2018 was the coldest day in parade history at 19 degrees F.

In 2022, for the first time, the event featured a trio of women hosts. Today, more than 44 million people tune in to watch the parade. Keep reading to learn more about the parade’s history and see some iconic shots of the event.