Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
image from Evensi
The very first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began at 9:00 am on Thursday, November 27, 1924.
The Macy's Department store had recently grown in size to take over an entire city block, and the company wanted to showcase its store in a big way: thus the Macy's parade got its start.
"To match the nursery-rhyme theme in Macy’s Christmas window display in 1924, floats featured Mother Goose favorites such as the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Little Miss Muffet and Little Red Riding Hood. Macy’s employees dressed as clowns, cowboys and sword-wielding knights. A menagerie of animals on loan from the Central Park Zoo—including bears, elephants, camels and monkeys—offered a circus-like atmosphere as four bands provided the soundtrack to the festive march. Bringing up the rear of the parade was a float bearing the guest of honor—Santa Claus—sitting in his reindeer-driven sleigh on top of a mountain of ice."
- History.com
The zoo animals did not enjoy the parade, and so they were replaced in 1927 with large balloons. The first balloon was Felix the Cat who joined the parade in 1927.
You can read more about the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade here:
-image from Bettman Archive/Getty Images
"Andy the Alligator" in 1933
image from NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images
"Mickey Mouse" in 1934.
Shepard Students Share Fun Facts!
Kyra S in 4th grade: Bus stops in Kangai, Japan are shaped like fruit!
So cool! Here are pictures of them:
images from Dream Tours Japan
These bus stops were built for the 1990 Travel Expo and remain in use today.
Thank you for this wonderful fact, Kyra S!
Have a great day!
