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Now that Halloween is behind us, we are happily looking forward to Thanksgiving.
While Googling "easy turkey recipe" and "creative side dishes for Thanksgiving," we received a pretty exciting notice about the beloved Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: this year's shenanigans will officially be extended by 30 minutes. Woohoo!
For the first time in almost a century, the iconic event will start half-hour early in New York, at 8:30am in the morning, with a performance by Jon Batiste.
The 97th iteration of the holiday celebration will take place on Thursday, November 23, and, according to a press release, it will feature 16 character balloons, 26 floats, 32 heritage and novelty balloons, over 700 clowns, 12 marching bands and nine performance groups.
Seven new balloons will be part of the procession this year: Beagle Scout Snoopy by Peanuts Worldwide; Blue Cat & Chugs by Cool Cats, a digitally native character; Kung Fu Panda’s Po by Universal Pictures’ Dreamworks Animation; Leo by Netflix, Inc.; Monkey D. Luffy by Toei Animation Inc.; Pillsbury Doughboy by Pillsbury; and Uncle Dan by Illumination.
Perhaps most exciting, though, is the fact that the one-and-only Cher will perform a new holiday song on 34th Street as part of the celebrations.
Other featured performers include Brandy, David Foster Katharine McPhee, Ashley Park with the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, and En Vogue, among others.
We highly suggest stepping out to witness the procession live but, if you prefer to catch the affair from home, you can do so on NBC beginning early in the morning.
Happy (almost!) holidays!