# The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade '23 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** basketball-nba, olympic-sports-track, theater-stage-dance\ **Created:** [November 26, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738 "2023-11-26T21:18:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/21 "2023-11-28T07:24:06Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > BigT - Yeah, figured it was the weather. Still thinks pants-and-top would’ve worked best. Even figure skating’s cool with that now. Oh, I agree with that. Your OP made me think you were expecting bare legs. I was just saying those are always simulated in cold weather. This was actually a question I asked as a little kid. I was shocked that the majorettes in band were showing their legs in the Christmas parade, and the band director himself actually told me they were tights because it was so cold (while also makin ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/22 "2023-11-28T08:23:14Z")
I got about as far as the corn song before I decided to go take a nap and tell someone to wake me for Thanksgiving dinner. Not because the _parade_ was annoying, exactly, but because the people I was watching were annoying to watch it with. My daffy landlord answered his wife’s question about the ambiguous gender of one of the participants by saying “That’s woke”, and his daughter kept saying to her son, “Do you know who _that_ is? Do you know what _that_ is?” like she does every year. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/23 "2023-11-28T15:55:22Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > 0:48 Something called _How to Dance in Ohio_ performed by a troupe with about the same racial diversity and musical sense as Ohio. That was a performance from the new musical _How to Dance in Ohio_, about a group of school kids with autism, cast entirely with actors who have autism. Looking at the cast photos online, it seems plenty diverse to me so not sure what your problem with that is… ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/24 "2023-11-28T16:22:36Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > The first two hours, maybe 20 minutes per hour. At the end of the parade they ran out of plugs so it was all good except for commercials. > [@JohnGalt](#): > > We were staying a block from Times Square, so when we got back to the hotel after the parade ended, we turned on the TV to see that it was only barely half done at Macy’s store. Then we realized that TV was showing all the dancing and singing that we never saw in person, stuff that they only do for the TV cameras. The parade route is about 2½ miles & takes approx 1-1½ hrs to march the route. All the band/dancer/singing performances are only at the end, in front of Herald Square. Yes, the marching bands will play music as they march, but only in formation - they don’t spell out things & the color guard doesn’t do much more than basic twirls until 34th St & the celebrity singers are pretty much smiles & waves until it’s time for them to ~~lip sync,~~ sing their song. CBS-NY, not having access to these performances has to do something to fill the time. Part of that is all of their plugs & the rest is lots of parade footage ‘on the street’ - as is you were standing there watching them march by. However, they cut in & out & mix it up. If you want to see **x** & you know **x** is after **y** in order you can’t just fast forward until you see **y** & then start paying attention; **x** might appear before or ½ hour or 45 mins after **y** even though they’re marching a block apart from each other ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/25 "2023-11-28T16:33:07Z")
Oh man, you all are watching the parade the wrong way. There are people who go to the parade and live-stream the view from the street on YouTube. You get to see the parade in the time it takes to pass by, no inane commentary, no incongruous musical numbers, no commercials. This is the one I put on my TV (mostly for my kids who absolutely love it for some reason): > **[Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2023 | FULL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNNlzhJjY5o%2F)** > > The 97th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade returned to New York City with its giant balloons and spectacular floats on Thursday.The annual parade display... The video is long because the stream started quite a while before the parade stepped off (this video is right at the start of the parade). I think I’ve also watched ActionKid in the past. I can’t recommend these sources enough. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/26 "2023-11-28T18:03:04Z")
I love that recommendation. I just hope I can remember it a year from now ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/27 "2023-11-28T18:22:57Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > The parade route is about 2½ miles & takes approx 1-1½ hrs to march the route. All the band/dancer/singing performances are only at the end, in front of Herald Square. Yes, the marching bands will play music as they march, but only in formation - they don’t spell out things & the color guard doesn’t do much more than basic twirls until 34th St & the celebrity singers are pretty much smiles & waves until it’s time for them to ~~lip sync,~~ sing their song. I went in person when I was a kid, over 60 years ago, and we got tickets for the Macy’s stands. (We went through the store to get to them.) So we probably saw all the good stuff. I hadn’t realized that there were two programs covering it, and just set the first I found to record. Next year I’ll look for the official one. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/28 "2023-11-28T18:51:25Z")
I’ve been twice, I think. My grandparents lived on Long Island, near enough that one year we woke up Thanksgiving morning, and my dad said, “Let’s go to the parade”. I think the parade had actually already stepped off when we left the house. We drove into the city in our minivan, found a spot to park on the street less than 3 blocks from the parade route somewhere not near the beginning, and walked over just in time for the front of the parade to reach us. When the parade had passed we got back in the van and drove back to my grandparent’s house. Super quick, and super easy. My children want to go, but we now live 6 hours away, so going to the parade would mean Thanksgiving in NYC where we know nobody. I was there in 1997, and remember a huge break in the parade. “I think there’s more parade coming”. This later proved to be caused by the infamous Cat-In-The-Hat lamppost incident nearly killing somebody. Apparently my memory is faulty though, because I remember it as being a giraffe balloon, and somebody actually dying. I don’t know if that was the same year as the last-minute-dash to the parade. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/29 "2023-11-28T19:10:34Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I hadn’t realized that there were two programs covering it, and just set the first I found to record. Next year I’ll look for the official one. NBC is the official one, nationally telecast to all NBC affiliates nationwide while the other one is only aired on WCBS / Channel 2 in NYC metro area ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/30 "2023-11-28T19:29:38Z")
I thought that CBS broadcast the parade nationwide? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/31 "2023-11-28T23:26:15Z")
I got it on the local CBS station in San Francisco, so I suspect you are right. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/32 "2023-11-29T01:52:52Z")
maybe you’re right; I never remember seeing it locally on CBS until we were in NYC area for Thanksgiving, of course that was many years ago. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/33 "2023-11-29T05:15:05Z")
I normally don’t bother to research demographics before idly rattling off stuff about hype-driven TV specials. I didn’t know the the point of _How to Dance in Ohio_ is to raise awareness/benefit autistic children. Now that I do, well, I wish it only the best. 👍 If I had to pick one play of the bunch to watch, however, it’d probably be _And Juliet._ My CBS affiliate didn’t cover the parade this year. Interestingly enough one of my local channels (which is not Spanish language) did have the Telemundo broadcast. tofor - Hey, thanks for coming through for us! I’ve never been convinced that these videos are a _huge_ improvement (only one camera, limited video quality, lots of white noise, no helpful explanations), but it’s always cool to have the view on the street with no commercials. I always seem to have trouble finding these for some reason, so definitely most grateful! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/34 "2023-11-29T15:29:18Z")
I know that I’m old and out of touch with the world in general because I like marching bands and (apparently) nobody else does. The media covering parades think the only thing bands are good for is to allow for commercial breaks and short interviews with people in whom I’m not interested. The network bozos will happily stop everything and take ten minutes to show me an overly rehearsed and carefully orchestrated song and dance routine from the revival of “Broadway Babes of 1937.” They won’t show me 45 uninterrupted seconds of a decent marching band doing their thing. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/35 "2023-11-29T15:50:15Z")
I’m with you; I like the marching bands as well. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/36 "2023-11-29T16:32:25Z")
The performance area on 34th St is much smaller than a football field. Can a 500-person marching band realistically do the cool stuff in that limited space that they can do in a football field? ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/37 "2023-11-30T04:09:04Z")
As someone who was in marching band for four years in college, I totally agree. We played halftime shows at two Minnesota Vikings games, and were lucky if we had five seconds of TV coverage, usually the flag team (which we all know weren’t really part of the band). Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/38 "2023-11-30T04:14:08Z")
This thread made me remember this most excellent thread, featuring @beowulff and an anonymous Doper: > [@I was in the 2018 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade - thanks to an awesome Doper!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-was-in-the-2018-macy-s-thanksgiving-day-parade-thanks-to-an-awesome-doper/825090): > > Last spring, there was an IMHO thread “What silly thing is on your bucket list?” I [posted](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20919862&postcount=29) that I always wanted to be a balloon handler in the Macy’s Parade. I was very surprised when I received a PM from a ‘doper (who wishes to remain anonymous) that he might be able to help me out. But first, he wanted to make sure that I really wanted to do this - the weather could be cold or rainy, the parade starts very early, and there is all that walking to do. I assured him that I was still interested. He… ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/39 "2023-11-30T04:42:57Z")
No, of course not. I just want to see them march and play. I love the bagpipe bands, the brass/military bands, high school and college bands, etc. I don’t need to see struggling actors stop the whole parade to lip-synch to some show they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2023, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738/40 "2023-11-30T15:32:01Z")
I’m glad you remembered that thread! It was a wonderful experience that will always be a high point in my life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-23/993738.md?page=3)