The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has become legendary for reasons more than one - it has drawn families and has become an annual holiday tradition! Beginning in 1924, it has run annually except two years during World War II when it was cancelled; and this time, the 82nd gathering coincides with Macy's 150th anniversary; and is set in New York, which is used to large processions!

The parade is also the go-to gathering to see giant, larger than life floats of cartoon characters and icons. Felix the Cat became the first parade float, as the floats helped attendance rise to over one million revelers by 1933. This year, the parade welcomes Buzz Lightyear, Horton and one of the Smurfs among its fraternity of floats.

NBC broadcast the parade for the first time in 1939. With millions of revelers en route the parade, bearing any kind of weather to cheer as the floats roll by, millions watch it from the comfort of their living rooms.

This year, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade began at 9 a. m., going down Broadway, from 77th to 34th Street - the parade route stretched 2.5 miles and wound from Central Park West and West 77th Street to Herald Square, in front of Macy's original, parent store. Over 3.5 million people witnessed the ten marching bands coming down, along with clowns, cheerleaders and 28 gigantic floats.

The parade was particularly joyful as the watchers enjoyed sunny skies, a mild 7mph wind and temperatures in the low 40s. In the past years, it has been much colder; one year winds were so strong it blew a float into a building!