The “KPop Demon Hunters” and a new Labubu balloon are taking over the 99th Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade as organizers look to showcase the latest hot kids\u2019 trends.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s parade will\u00a0have\u00a032 oversized balloons traveling\u00a0from Central Park West, down Sixth Avenue to Macy\u2019s flagship store at Herald Square on 34th Street. The balloons will be interspersed with clowns, 27 floats, 11 marching bands and performances by pop stars and Long Island\u2019s own hip-hop artist Busta Rhymes and singer Debbie Gibson, Broadway musical numbers and, of course, concluding with Santa Claus riding his sleigh to kick off the Christmas season.<\/p>\n
“On Thanksgiving morning, larger-than-life character balloons, awe-inspiring floats and showstopping performances will create unforgettable and lasting holiday memories for millions of spectators in New York City and across the country,” Macy\u2019s parade producer Will Coss\u00a0said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The parade steps\u00a0off at 8:30 a.m. Thursday from 77th Street, as the 2.5-mile route makes its way past Columbus Circle, down Sixth Avenue to 34th Street. The parade will be broadcast on NBC and opened by “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo. It typically draws more than 3 million spectators lining Manhattan streets\u00a0and a national television audience of more than 50 million viewers.<\/p>\n
Those looking to watch the parade in person may\u00a0arrive at 6 a.m. on Central Park West from West 75th Street to West 63rd Street. Spectators also\u00a0can gather on West 59th Street South and on Sixth Avenue from West 59th to 38th streets.<\/p>\n
A performance by the musical group, HUNTR\/X from the “KPop Demon Hunters” movie and a new balloon of the movie\u2019s big blue tiger, Derpy, premieres for the South Korean phenomena as part of this year\u2019s parade.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Spider-Man was among the balloons at\u00a0the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov.\u00a028, 2024 in Manhattan. Credit: Getty Images\/Craig T Fruchtman<\/p>\n
The two-story tall, 39-foot-long Derpy balloon is one of 34 balloons this year, and five new entries in addition to “Toy Story\u2019s” Buzz Lightyear, Nintendo\u2019s Mario, Pac-Man\u00a0and Shrek. They join returning favorites Snoopy, Bluey, Spider-Man and SpongeBob.<\/p>\n
A 16-foot-tall Labubu, the popular fuzzy and demonic toy collectable, will make its debut on the Pop Mart “POPCITY” float in the parade.<\/p>\n
The Macy\u2019s Television performance, which will have limited spectator viewing, will feature acts\u00a0from\u00a0such Broadway shows as\u00a0“Ragtime,” “Buena Vista Social Club” and the Bobby Darin musical, “Just in Time.”<\/p>\n
Other performers\u00a0will be the Radio City Rockettes, soul and Christmas singer Darlene Love, Disney\u2019s “Zombies” franchise star Meg Donnelly, now performing in “Moulin Rouge!” and “Hamilton” star\u00a0Christopher Jackson.<\/p>\n
The parade will have\u00a0marching bands from around the country, including the NYPD Police Band.<\/p>\n
The NYPD said it planned\u00a0to announce security for the parade next\u00a0week, including road closures.<\/p>\n
Macy\u2019s will look to mark its centennial parade next year and incorporate its history this year with classic star balloons and the earliest floats. Officials said the parade started in 1924, but it was canceled from 1942 to 1944 during World War II, when materials such as rubber were saved for the troops at war.<\/p>\n
“Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade will celebrate its 100th march in 2026, continuing a tradition that has brought joy and lasting memories to generations worldwide,” organizers said in a statement.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\tJohn Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The “KPop Demon Hunters” and a new Labubu balloon are taking over the 99th Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[288,9,24,63,134,136,135,25619],"class_list":{"0":"post-49167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-staten-island","13":"tag-staten-island-headlines","14":"tag-staten-island-news","15":"tag-winter-holidays"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}