I’ve had the pleasure of covering the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade of 2022 from the streets & from the One Hotel. I was there with Moshe, NYC Baby Mika, Yafit & Lili. Mika loved watching the balloons with Lili from above. As always, I shared highlights of the parade on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, and Twitter.
The 2020 Macy’sThanksgiving Day Parade was like no other. Due to the pandemic, the parade was marching without a crowd on three consecutive days. Each day had some performers and floats and only on the last day, the day of Thanksgiving, they took out a few of the balloons. This year we saw two new balloons on the parade; Boss Baby and Ryan’s World. Another new balloon marching was the Yayoi Kusama ballon which was introduced in 2019 but made its debut only in 2020.
The 2019 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held on Thursday, November 28, 2019, at 9:00 am. The Parade runs south on Central Park West, starting from 77th street. At Columbus Circle, the Parade will then turn east and march down on 6th Avenue all the way down to the Macy’s store at Harald Square. You can view the parade route on the map here.
The best viewing points will be at Central Park West (60 – 77th Street and Central Park West). You should get to your designated spot early. Early birds start to show up around 6:00 am on the west side of Central Park. Please note that while there are no public viewing spots at Columbus Circle you can view the parade from the Time Warner Mall. The Mall will be open at 9:00 am so you’ll be able to watch the parade from the second and third toasty warm floors – be there early.
Avoid viewing the parade between West 34th and West 38th street, it’s reserved for the national television broadcast. Also, there is no public viewing on Macy’s Herald Square. It is going to be very, very crowded. 3.5 million people are expected to attend this event, so be prepared to be squashed around. And get yourself some good warm clothes to keep you from freezing while you wait.
To get a sneak peek at the balloons you can attend the balloon inflation on Wednesday, November 27, 2019, between 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. The line to see the balloons starts at West 73rd Street and Columbus Avenue. And the balloons will be on view outside of the Natural History Museum (between West 77 and West 81st Street). You can view the balloon inflation map here.