Turkey Day Parade Tutorial

Like many of you, I love the holiday season and that time begins for me at Thanksgiving - specifically on Thanksgiving morning when I watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. As someone who was not born in this country, I did not grow up in a family who had a tradition of watching the parade so when I was old enough to realize what it was, I made it a point to watch every year. Combine my love for the parade with my avid curiosity and you get a whole post dedicated to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and its history.  



Interestingly enough, the idea for the parade was thought up by people that had immigrated to America, just like my family and I did in 1988. They were so happy to be in America and so proud of their newly found heritage that they wanted to celebrate in a big dramatic way and what better way than having a parade! Coincidentally, these immigrants were also all employees of the famous Macy's Department Store which is how the store became affiliated with the parade in the first place.  
1920 marked the first Macy's Parade which was then called the Christmas Parade. Employees and professional entertainers marched in the parade along with animals that were borrowed from the Central Park Zoo.  In the late 1920's the parade was provided with large balloon animals that replaced the live animals and the tradition of enormous balloons in the parade had begun! DID YOU KNOW...that when the balloons were first introduced they were released into the sky? They were indeed and they were even designed with address labels sewn into them that allowed those people that found them after they had deflated to send them back to Macy's in return for a free gift.  



Felix the Cat - the first balloon animal introduced into the parade

The parade and its spectators grew and grew throughout the 1930's but the first half of the 1940's saw a sharp decline in attendance mostly because the parade was not put on during WWII as the supplies were needed to assist in the war effort. The parade came back in 1945 and has been with us ever since. So for those of you that love to wake up and watch the parade like I do - I hope you enjoy it! And for those of you that don't like the parade - we are no longer friends : )