NYC Thanksgiving Parade to Commemorate Sept. 11

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 23, 2001

NYC Thanksgiving Parade to Commemorate Sept. 11

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center will be memorialized in the 75th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center will be memorialized in the 75th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

During a normal year, the parade would be welcoming a new balloon superhero into its lineup of imaginary characters that float down New York City's streets.

This year, the new additions are a Statue of Liberty float with the flags of all 50 states, floats for New York City fire and police department members, and a special Big Apple Float which will have members of the city's emergency services as well as other prominent city officials and dignitaries.

The Thursday parade will feature a total of 15 giant balloons, 22 sponsored floats and falloons (half float half cold air balloon), 12 bands, hundreds of clowns, and an appearance by Santa Claus.

The tradition of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1924, with a handful of Macy's workers who wished to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season with a parade through central Manhattan. The first large balloon appeared in 1927 with Felix the Cat.

Balloons will be banned from the parade altogether if winds exceed 23 mph.

More than seven decades later, hundreds of parade volunteers will march south on the two and a half mile route.

The parade begins at 9 a.m. at 77th Street, goes south on Central Park West to Columbus Circle, south on Broadway, through Times Square, and finally ends in front of the Macy's flagship store in Herald Square at W. 34th St.