The Macys Thanksgiving Day parade is the most popular holiday parade in America since 1924. It attracts more than 3.5 million to the streets and 50 million viewers on TV each year. The first parade took place around Christmas time, when Macy’s employees dressed as clowns and other fun costumes, and traveled with Central Park zoo animals and created floats. The Macy’s staff walked 6 miles from Herald Square to Harlem in Manhattan. More than 250,000 attended, and since then the parade has become an annual event. In 1927, Felix the cat was the first balloon to make an appearance in the parade; filled with helium, it stayed afloat in the sky pulled by people along the parade route. However, it was released into the sky because it was not able to be deflated. In 1932, the first national radio broadcast took place. Soon after, in 1934, Disney jumped at the opportunity and introduced a Mickey Mouse balloon to the parade. 1939 was the first year the parade wasn’t completely pulled by horses and was also first broadcasted on TV, but only the lucky few fortunate enough to own a TV could see the spectacle. As it evolved, the parade required more and more rubber to make the balloons so much so that from 1942 to 1944, during WWII, the parade was canceled and the rubber was donated to the military. The parade’s glorious return in 1945 had an attendance of nearly 2 million. 1971 was the first year since 1926 that the parade was without balloons; due to heavy rain all balloons were grounded. Since then the weather has not halted the parade and the size of the parade continues to grow. The modern day Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has around 8,000 participants and 4,000 volunteers to put it together. Today, they travel down a 2.6 mile long route. This past year marked the 87th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with performances by iconic Celebrities like Carrie Underwood and Ariana Grande, and even a small preview of the upcoming sound of music program aired Thursday the 5th on NBC. Many of the younger population who had the time to sit down and watch the parade enjoyed a spectacular performance by cirque Du Soleil, where performers put on a show on a pirate ship float. Some teenagers like Ryan watts a high school junior, enjoy the balloons. Another high school senior, His favorite in particular happened to be the sonic balloon. Brittany Farley stated “I never get up early enough to watch the parade”. When most teachers were asked about the parade, they stated that they did not have time to it; the most popular excuses were that they were sleeping or cooking. However, any small part of this iconic parade is sure to put any viewer in a happy and thankful mood, like it has done so in the past. This past yea, the biggest relief that came to those early morning, viewers at 9 in the morning would have been that the wind had not stopped the balloons from flying. Everyone is wishing next years parade the same great success.