Things You Didn’t Know about the Parade’s Floating Icons
It’s one of our most cherished American traditions…the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It means the holiday season has officially started. It also means that, within the next few hours, we’ll be enjoying a feast with loved ones, focusing our attention on all for which we are thankful.
This year marks the 100th birthday of the storied parade. Over the past century, it’s only been cancelled four times…from 1942 through 1944 because of the Second World War, and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Iconic Image of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Balloons
The first pictures that typically come to mind when you think about the Macy’s parade are the immense balloons that float along the parade route. Those balloons, however, were not a part of the parade until 1927. In fact, for the first three years, most of the participants in the parade were animals on leave from the Central Park Zoo. Parade organizers dressed tigers, bears, camels, donkeys and even elephants in Macy’s promotional pennants, thrilling many observers, but apparently scaring many children.
For the 1927 parade, organizers decided to replace the live animals with oversized balloons. The first year saw inflated versions of Felix the Cat, a dragon, a toy soldier and an elephant. When the parade ended that first year, the handlers simply let go of the ropes, allowing the huge balloons to drift up into the atmosphere, where they eventually popped.
In 1928, the balloons were reinforced to withstand the higher elevations. For the next five years, the balloons carried a printed return address, with a $100 reward to anyone who found and returned one to Macy’s. In 1932, an aviation student saw one of the balloons at an altitude of approximately 5,000 feet and tried to ram it, almost crashing the plane.
According to parade officials, it takes approximately 12,000 cubic feet of helium, a lighter than air gas, to fully inflate some of the larger balloons. A large balloon can typically be fully inflated in about an hour and a half and can be fully deflated in about 15 minutes. In 1958, in response to a national helium shortage, organizers used ordinary air and hung the balloons from giant cranes.
The Different Balloons Over the Years
Snoopy holds the honor of the most appearances at the parade, floating down 77th Street more than 40 times over the last 100 years. Other balloons making multiple appearances include Mickey Mouse, Ronald McDonald and SpongeBob SquarePants. In 2024, six new balloons will traverse the parade route: Spider-Man, Minnie Mouse, Marshall from Paw Patrol, Goku from Dragon Ball, Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse, and Extraordinary Noorah and the Elf on the Shelf.
