Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2009

The fourth Thursday in November, celebrated throughout the U.S. with family gatherings, turkey feasts and football games, also marks the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade sponsored by Macy's. This 2.5 mile extravaganza traditionally begins at 9 am at 77th Street, proceeds down Central Park West to Columbus Circle and marches down Broadway past Macy's Herald Square store at 34th Street, where it turns to end on 7th Avenue. 2009 marks the store's 83rd Thanksgiving Day parade.

Each year, the parade features a host of:

• clowns
• floats
• marching bands
• celebrities
• and the famous balloons in the shapes of everyone's favorite cartoon and storybook characters

The parade also includes the ubiquitous Santa Claus, whose arrival on a rather ornate sled signals the end of the parade each year and announces the kick-off the critical retail selling season that starts the day after Thanksgiving.

The People Behind the Scenes
Key to the success of the parade each year are the 4,000 or so volunteers (largely Macy's employees and their friends and relatives) who stay up late the night before as the balloons are blown up, arrive at starting line by 7:30 am the next morning to make final preparations, and brave cold winds, rain, snow or anything else Mother Nature dishes out -- because no matter what, the show must go on. About 1,200 of these volunteers act as balloon handlers for the giant helium balloons, which are the parade's main attraction and which can weigh more than 500 pounds each.

Best Spots to See the Parade
We've tried a number of different vantage points over the years; our favorite spot to view the parade remains Duffy Square (where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue at 46th Street). We've never encountered the huge crowds here that mob the prime viewing spots at Columbus Circle or Times Square, which has allowed us to actually see the floats and marching bands, rather than just glimpsing the balloons above other people's heads.

Your best bet is to stay away from Seventh Avenue at 34th Street since the convergence of suburbanites from Penn Station (where the Long Island Railroad and New Jersey Transit trains deposit riders) and the nearby PATH trains make this area especially crazy. Parade watchers are dozens deep which means that only children lucky enough to sit on their parent's shoulders or people smart enough to bring a step ladder can see over the crowd.

Getting a Close-up of the Balloons
The best way to get up-close and personal with the balloons (which are the true stars of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade) is to visit the West Side the night before. Balloon inflation takes place on 77th and 81st Streets between Central Park West and Columbus. These streets are closed so that parade volunteers can lay out the huge balloons and begin to fill them with helium. Watching favorite characters take shape is exciting for adults and kids alike.

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