Snoopy, Shrek, Bluey, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and tens of thousands of fellow paradegoers packed into Manhattan on Thursday for the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Stretching 2.5 miles from West 77th Street to sponsor Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street, there were 34 balloons, 28 floats, 29 performers, 11 marching bands, 33 clown crews, 9 performance groups and 14 specialty units.
The Spider-Man balloon joins the 99th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Thursday in New York. Credit: Getty Images/Spencer Platt
Gawking from 6th Avenue near 40th Street behind barricades were Brentwood schoolteacher Melissa Dennehy, 48, of Setauket, and her sons Christopher, 11, and Jack, 15.
“I like the parade just because it’s a whole experience, to be honest,” Jack said. “It’s just seeing the floats down the street and everything, seeing all the music.”
Said his brother: “Snoopy always catches my eye.”
The Dora the Explorer balloon at the 99th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Thursday. Credit: Getty Images/Spencer Platt
Nearby, the “Stranger Things” float was rolling down the avenue as Denise Faingar of Westbury watched with her daughter, Scarlett Faingar, 7, and Faingar’s cousin Danielle Leighley of Lynbrook and her daughter, Reid Leighley, 12, as Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You” blasted from the speakers.
“That was my favorite song!” Denise Faingar said. (Neither of the younger girls had heard of the band — or the song.)
Harper Pepe, 11, of Babylon, was with her dad and her second parade.
“I love the parade. I went last year, and it was just so much fun!” she said.
Harper said the family would head back east after the parade. She’s looking forward to the chocolate pudding pie.
“My mom’s making dinner, so we’re probably going to hang out, and then we’re going to eat.”
Like stuffing in a Thanksgiving turkey, spectators packed into the parade route’s adjacent corners, sidewalks and side streets. Some had arrived before sunrise to secure a spot.
But for hundreds lucky enough to be relatives, friends or acquaintances of NYPD officers, there was a reserved, closed-off section with no lines, more room and even a canteen sponsored by the rank-and-file officers’ union distributing refreshments: the east side of 6th Avenue, from 42nd to 44th streets.
Obstetrician Aaron Davidson, 53, of Great Neck was there with his son Samuel, 10, who as a drummer himself especially likes to see the marching bands.
“We know folks in the NYPD. I’m a doctor, and I take care of some NYPD officers, and they invited me to come here, to this spot,” the elder Davidson said.
The two will go back to the Island for a Thanksgiving dinner with 30 guests.
There had been concerns that balloons wouldn’t be able to fly during the parade due to safety concerns. But winds were mostly westerly to a little north of west and gusting 20 to 25 mph during the parade time, according to forecasters.
The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was in 1924.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.