At the last minute on Thanksgiving morning, Chontai Diggs and her daughter decided to leave their Mount Airy home.

Diggs, 35, had always watched Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day parade on TV, despite being born and raised in the city. But this year, her 9-year old, Zaria Roscoe, wanted to see the towering inflatable floats up close. She grinned as the minutes ticked away, squinting as sun drenched the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Once it was finished, mom and daughter needed to get back home to cook some dishes for their Thanksgiving meal, they said. Zaria was looking forward to eating “ham and mashed potatoes and cornbread and pumpkin pie.”

On a brisk morning when floats threatened to break free in the wind, but for their determined handlers, many families lined the route of the 106th 6abc Dunkin’ Thanksgiving Day Parade, the nation’s oldest.

Kamila Bond, 29, and Alex Vaz, 32, were thankful they even got a chance to see the parade. The two University of Pennsylvania medical residents said they’re usually working on Turkey Day but were happy to see some communal joy, a welcome respite from what they normally see inside the hospital.

They were grateful for their own health this year and said they were excited to finally spend some time with friends and family on the holiday.

“And sleeping,” Vaz said, coffee in hand.

Thanks after a hard year

Philly’s parade has been running since 1920, when Ellis Gimbel of the once prominent Gimbel Brothers department store on the 800 block of Market Street came up with the idea to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Until 1986, the parade ended with Santa Claus climbing into an eighth-floor store window, but now finishes with a procession up the Parkway to the Art Museum. Today’s parade might be much larger and influenced by its sponsors, but it still holds a distinct Philly flair.

“Go Birds! Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble!” said a parade participant in a clown costume, dressed like the original Gimbel employees.

Little brought as much joy to the crowd as when float carriers relented to chants of “spin it!” and turned their displays around in a 360-degree circle. Second in popularity were the free pink Dunkin’ beanies handed out by the parade sponsor.

Missing from the celebration was the Temple University marching band. The 200-member ensemble was one of only 11 selected to participate in the 99th edition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, and the only band from Pennsylvania.

It was Temple’s first time performing in the New York parade, a fitting year-end celebration for the band, which marked its own 100th anniversary this year. High school bands from as far as Alabama and Indiana filled their place with their own perfectly polished silver tubas.

Perhaps for the good of the festive mood, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman was not in attendance. Though 6abc advertised his appearance alongside Monday Night Football broadcast partner Joe Buck, the pair merely gave a taped message that aired during the parade’s television broadcast.

For reasons that are unclear, Aikman shouted out the Philadelphia Professional Football Cheerleader Alumni group, a collection of former Eagles cheerleaders who strutted down the Parkway wearing jackets displaying what appeared to be the years they last cheered for the team.

When they reflected back on 2025, some attendees conceded that it had been a difficult year for them and the country. Sarah LaBruce, 46, from Fishtown, said she was hopeful that things would be better going forward — and already had her bright-red Christmas leggings on.

James Govan, 64, is already eyeing his retirement next year, when he plans to leave Philadelphia. He’s a federal worker, and has been able to hold onto his job during all of the recent tumult in the government.

But until then, the Northeast resident said he was thankful for the everyday parts of life, including the plate of greens with smoked turkey and macaroni and cheese he had prepared for the day. He figured that he would swing by the parade this year, he said, because you never know when it could be your last chance to experience it.

“Let me see this Santa Claus guy,” he joked, before turning a bit more serious, a walking cane in his right hand.

“When we’re young, we take it for granted.”