When the leaves fall and you start making homemade cranberry sauce you know Thanksgiving is around the corner. Specifically for those living in New York, this means grabbing their friends and family and getting ready to go to the annual Thanksgiving parade. With the current state of everything that we are dealing with such as the pandemic, all of these plans have looked very different this year in comparison to previous years.

low angle photo of gray concrete building under blue sky during daytime Photo by Nick Sarvari on Unsplash

Since 1924 the department store known as Macy's has been having their famous Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in New York City. Usually, the parade marches down a couple of blocks starting from Central Park South up until Sixth Avenue but this year it was mainly taking place on 34th street. Further, the parade was live-streamed on NBC to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus due to the cases in New York City slowly increasing these past couple of weeks.

Social distancing this year is very important for the safety of everyone and as a result, they cut down on the number of individuals performing and responsible for maintenance. As a result, there were only 12 big balloons and 18 parade floats this year, less than the usual standards of previous years. Even with the parade being non-traditional this year Macy's has still added two new balloons to their lineup. With the addition of "Boss Baby" from the popular movie by DreamWorks Animation and "Red Titan" from Ryan's world, there is no holding back the holiday spirit in celebrating this holiday.

Hamilton Richard Rodgers signage Photo by Sudan Ouyang on Unsplash

Even if nobody was able to be there in person at the parade and that caused a damp on things the online broadcast definitely did not let anyone down. Broadway made a special appearance with performances by the cast of "Mean Girls", "Jagged Little Pill", "Hamilton" and "Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of Temptations." With Broadway promising to open in May 2021 this special appearance reminded everyone of what is there is to come once the pandemic is over. There were also performances from the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker performed by the renowned New York City Ballet Company. Finally, just in time for the Christmas, Santa clause and the Rockettes from the yearly Radio City Christmas Spectacular made the final appearance at the parade, reminding us of the happiness and love that will come from this Christmas holiday with our loved ones.

red metal fence near the city of chicago signage during night time Photo by Lo Sarno on Unsplash

With everything pushed online or on television it can feel like we cannot fully enjoy the holidays this year but we were proven wrong by Macy's this Thanksgiving. With the Saint Patrick's Day parade being canceled this past March due to the pandemic this November we were reminded of how we can make the best of the current situation that the world is in while also being safe.