Oh look honey, a balloonicle!

Natalie Wood and John Payne pay no attention to the
Parade in the 1947 production of "Miracle on 34th Street"

Each year, more than 3.5 million people line the streets of New York City to enjoy the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and 50 million more tune into the live telecast.  

The 2013 Parade marked the 87^th time that the giant balloons, marching bands, and floats have processed the 2.5 mile route along Sixth Avenue to the Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square (and the 67th anniversary of its first TV screening).  

The Parade was originally established by Macy’s employees to celebrate the start of the Christmas season, and even featured live animals from the Central Park Zoo!  Felix the Cat was the first giant balloon to be introduced to the Parade line-up, but the character with the most balloon designs in history is Snoopy, and Macy’s debuted Snoopy design #7 in 2013.  

But did you know that the earliest helium balloons featured return addresses so that if they floated away, anyone returning them to Macy’s would get a free gift?  And due to rubber and helium shortages during WW2 the Parade was postponed, the balloons were deflated,  and 650 pounds of scrap rubber were donated to the US Government’s war effort.  

But in addition to becoming an American tradition, and the winner of 12 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has also contributed two new words to the nation’s vocabulary: falloon (a float-based balloon); and balloonicle (a self-powered balloon vehicle).  True story.