Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade New York

“As someone who has a background in the entertainment industry, I went into this experience knowing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a production made for television viewers. The in-person audience is not the priority. It is very different to experience this parade in person compared to a theme park parade (where the entire purpose is to entertain the people in attendance). [...] Going back to the priority of this parade being the TV production, this can affect the parade passing through as well. Commercial breaks can’t interrupt floats and balloons passing by Herald Square during the live TV broadcast. Therefore, I experienced some large gaps and an extended pauses during the parade for its entrance to be timed perfectly.”

“I arrived in New York City a couple days before Thanksgiving. Already I could feel the buzz and see the ways parade production affects the city. There were already street closures and floats being assembled near Central Park. [...] Although I expected street closures for cars on Thanksgiving, I was surprised at how many streets were closed to pedestrians as well. Some subway stop closures and a large portion of Central Park were entirely closed.”

“My aunt and uncle, who live 20 minutes away in Jersey, were the first to take us to the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and it became a tradition we did for years afterward. I was about 11 the first time — my sister and I slept over my aunt's house with our little cousin. We would wake up just before sunrise, get bundled up, and get in the car and make a donut run. We would get to the city as the morning was starting and would look out the window as we crossed the bridge and started to get sooooo excited. We would park, get in our dozens of layers, then walk over to Central Park West and park ourselves right in front of the blue police barricades. We would drink hot cocoa, eat more donuts, play 20 Questions–type games as the area crowded with people. When it finally started, it was just SO amazing. I'd take pictures of everything with a disposable camera. I would squeal over my favorite characters as enormous balloons and wish that I was riding at the top of a float.”