The first Macy’s parade rolled through Manhattan on November 24, 1924, in front of just 10,000 people. It was not even called a Thanksgiving parade back then, and there was not a single giant balloon in it.
A century later, millions of Americans switch on the television every Thanksgiving morning to watch Snoopy, Spider-Man and Bluey drift over the West Side. The balloons have changed with every generation, and looking at them decade by decade is a quick tour of American pop culture.
The 1920s: a Christmas parade with zoo animals
Before the inflatables and the TV cameras, New York’s biggest holiday procession went by the name Macy’s Christmas Parade. Its purpose was to kick off the holiday shopping season.
The early parades used horse drawn floats, such as a Santa Claus carriage from 1925. Live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo marched along too.
The 1930s: Mickey Mouse arrives
A Mickey Mouse balloon joined the parade in 1934, and Walt Disney designed it himself. The character went on to be reworked four more times over the years.
The 1940s: a wartime pause and a TV debut
Macy’s called off the parade from 1942 to 1944 because of World War II. By the late 1940s the helium giants were floating past Central Park again.
Odd characters like Harold the Fireman became stars in this period. His name was a pun on Herald Square, the spot the route was famous for passing. Television helped make them famous, and in 1948 CBS carried the parade to viewers across the whole country for the first time.
The 1950s: Mighty Mouse goes down
Live television turned the parade into a ritual Americans watched before the pie came out, and it also meant that accidents happened in front of everyone. In 1956 the Mighty Mouse balloon struck a street sign at Columbus Circle and slowly sagged and deflated while millions looked on at home.
The 1960s: Snoopy takes off
Snoopy made his first appearance in 1968, dressed as an aviator, with NBC carrying the broadcast. He has rarely been away since, and his outfits tracked the times:
- an aviator for his 1968 debut
- an astronaut through most of the 1970s
- an ice skater in the 1980s
That long run would eventually make him the most featured character in the parade’s history.
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The 1970s: the Muppets join in
The popularity of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show spilled onto the parade route in the late 1970s. Kermit the Frog arrived in 1977 as the first major balloon based on a puppet, opening an era when Saturday morning TV favorites owned the skies over Manhattan.
The 1980s: the biggest balloon yet
Christopher Reeve's Superman films brought a new and improved Superman balloon to the parade. The 1980 version stretched 104 feet long and 35 feet wide, the largest balloon in parade history up to that point.
It was also the last balloon Goodyear ever built for Macy's. By 1989, Marvel's Spider-Man had taken over the superhero spot from DC's Man of Steel.
Also read: FDR Moved Thanksgiving Up a Week in 1939, and 23 States Refused to Follow
The 1990s: cartoons and a windy accident
Cable TV cartoons set the tone in the 1990s. Bart Simpson floated through most of the decade, apart from a split seam in 1993.
The Cat in the Hat had a worse time. In 1997 strong winds pushed the balloon into a lamppost, an accident that permanently changed the way the parade handles safety.
The 2000s: the first square balloon
SpongeBob SquarePants floated through Times Square for the first time in 2004, and he was the first square balloon the parade had ever flown. Pikachu from Pokémon and the M&M's characters were part of the same wave of new millennium animation.
The 2010s: the parade goes global
Thanksgiving is an American holiday, but by the late 2010s the parade's characters were coming from much farther afield. In 2018 Goku from Dragon Ball became the first Japanese manga character in the lineup, his spiky cyan hair casting jagged shadows over the city.
For the franchise's 40th anniversary in 2024, Goku's balloon was refreshed with his classic black hair, and a second manga hero, Monkey D. Luffy, flew alongside him.
The 2020s: streaming stars
Not even a global pandemic stopped the parade. It went ahead in scaled down form in 2020, came back in full in 2021, and a fresh batch of characters followed in the years after.
Bluey, the animated puppy from Australia, and Stuart the Minion are among the newer faces. With so many streaming favorites overhead, the late November sky above New York now looks a lot like a TV menu.
Also read: What the Pilgrims Actually Ate at the First Thanksgiving in 1621
Based on reporting by Mental Floss
By Trivia News Staff | Culture