The  iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, a tradition since 1924, will go on this year, despite the pandemic.

It will be different than usual.

The Macy’s Executive Producer for the annual parade, Susan Tercero, says the focus for the 2020 parade is on safety.   Macy’s partnered with the City of New York and the television producers to find innovative ways to still have this festive  and treasured tradition while addressing the challenges presented by COVID-19.  This year’s parade is designed for television-only viewing.   The official network of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is NBC.  Hosts from the Today Show, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker, will provide commentary as always.

The parade normally starts at Central Park West and winds its way through a 2.5-mile path in New York, concluding at the Macy’s headquarters store at Herald Square.  This year, the parade will essentially be just a few blocks long, with viewing primarily in front of the Macy’s store.  The City of New York has cordoned off streets for blocks around Herald Square and the public is not allowed to view the parade in person, but the floats and balloons are lined up and ready to go.

The television broadcast will start, as always, with numbers from Broadway shows and some live performances–plus the Radio City Rockettes.  To minimize the number of people on the street at any one time, according to Bill Bracken,  the co-Executive Producer of the television broadcast, they have pre-taped the Broadway numbers.  They have also pre-taped other portions of the parade….again, to provide the safest possible environment.

The 18 giant balloons, rather than being contained by large groups of human handlers, are attached to special vehicles, with only a few handlers needed for each balloon.  Balloons this year include Snoopy the Astronaut, Paw Patrol, Pikachu from Pokeman,  Ronald McDonald, the Pillsbury Doughboy, The Elf on the Shelf, Smokey the Bear, and more.  There will be 26 lavishly decorated floats.  And there will be bands and street performers–many of which had to forgo participation in the usual celebrations throughout the year because of COVID-19.   Some of these performances have been pre-taped.

In Hawaii, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be on KHNL (Hawaii News Now) Channel 8 Thursday from 9 a.m. until noon.  Although Macy’s produces the parade, the television broadcast is produced by Brad Lachman Productions–Brad Lachman, Executive Producer, and Bill Bracken, co-Executive Producer.  The parade will be simulcast on NBC’s sister station, Telemundo.

For more detail about the parade, click here for the link to the Macy’s Parade site, which tells the story.

Full disclosure: Bill Bracken is the youngest brother of Sherry Bracken of New West Broadcasting, who contributed this story.