Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Fun Facts

Did you know that the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade didn’t always feature giant balloons? The parade first took place in 1924, and initially, they had real life animals from the Central Park Zoo. But there were a lot of issues associated with that, including potential safety hazards.

So in 1927, they introduced the very first character balloon. And it was Felix the Cat (at the time, he was kind of a big deal). And Felix was filled with oxygen, not helium, and was supported by handlers with poles. They started using helium in 1928.

And then there’s this . . . they didn’t deflate the balloons after the parade, they just let them float away (???). That is until 1932, when a biplane pilot tried to catch one, and it wrapped around her wing and almost caused a crash.