10 wild facts about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

It’s the most helium-filled time of the year.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is back for its 98th year on Thursday. In the decades since the beloved annual tradition first took flight in 1924, it has become a seasonal staple that for some, is almost as synonymous with the holiday as turkey.

While its existence may be globally recognized, many functional details of the event are hardly common knowledge.

Here are 10 of the most interesting and least-known facts about what it takes to put on the Macy’s parade, as well as a few historic highlights.

The balloons are inflated on the Upper West Side the day before Thanksgiving

The day before the official festivities, Macy’s invites the public to watch the inflation of its giant character balloons (this year there are 22, plus seven smaller “balloonicles,” 34 floats, 11 marching bands and 28 clown crews). It all happens free of charge outside the Museum of Natural History. This year’s “Inflation & Float Viewing” line (there is always a long line) is set to begin at noon on Wednesday, with viewing hours from 1 to 6 p.m.

There’s a parade dress rehearsal of sorts called Balloonfest

Before they debut on the parade route, some balloons are given a test run outside the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The private preview event involves hundreds of balloon handlers and a flight management team tromping around a Jersey parking lot with the larger-than-life inflatables, a strange and delightful sight. The balloons that were tested this year included the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “Bluey” balloons, among others.

This year should be the parade’s centennial

This year marks the 100th since the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but its centennial won’t officially be until 2027. That’s because the parade missed three years from 1942 through 1944, when it was cancelled to help save vital materials for the military during World War II. The parade went on during the 2020 pandemic-era shutdowns, but with no in-person attendance.

Snoopy is the most prolific balloon

Of all the creations that have been carried in the parade, none have been such frequent fliers as Snoopy. Since 1968, Charlie Brown’s pet beagle has been walked down the parade route a total of 42 times. Soon, that’ll be 43: A Beagle Scout Snoopy balloon with a Woodstock in his cap will be there on Thursday. And it’s enormous. The balloon’s hat “is as long as 17 beagles lined up end to end” according to Macy’s, which also notes the balloon is as tall as a five-story building and as wide as five taxi cabs.

Jean McFaddin was the most prolific parade leader

Snoopy may be more famous, but Macy’s events planner Jean McFaddin was an even more prolific part of the parade until she died in 2018. During her 24-year tenure, the event became a globally known tradition, and she is widely credited for its rise in reputation.

Participation is restricted to Macy’s employees and friends

From the inception of the parade through the present, all balloon handlers have either worked for Macy’s or been friends and family of those who do. The only exception is invited performing talent, such as marching band members and celebrities — everyone else is connected to Macy’s, their participation approved via application by Macy’s Studios.

Macy’s is the country’s second-biggest helium consumer

Keeping its character balloons afloat requires so much helium that Macy’s is one of the country’s biggest consumers of the resource, second only to the U.S. government. The most common use for the element nationally is cooling materials to extremely low temperatures, according to WBAA News. That sounds much less fun than parading pop culture references down Central Park West.

The parade requires more than 8,000 hours of labor

By the numbers, Macy’s estimates this year’s parade alone will require 300 pounds of glitter, 200 pounds of confetti, more than 4,500 costumes and a combined 8,000-plus hours of labor by approximately 27 painters, carpenters, animators, sculptors, welders, designers, electricians and engineers.

Police documents once wound up in the confetti

Back in 2012, revelers may have noticed something strange about the celebratory scraps of paper being sprinkled over attendees: It contained shredded but legible police documents from Nassau County – meaning that license plate numbers, police reports and other sensitive information were visible on some streamers.

The parade once featured live animals

While this year’s parade will feature a number of inflated creatures, as well as a Bronx Zoo float marking the institution’s 125th year, the parade once also included live animals. Bears, monkeys and elephants were paraded through Manhattan as part of the initial celebration, which was called the Macy’s Christmas Parade. Macy’s nixed the use of real animals the very next year.