After a shortened, audience-free event in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of spectators are expected to line Manhattan’s streets on Thursday to watch this year’s parade, and millions more will view it on NBC.
The giant balloons that the parade is now known for did not show up until a few years later.
In 1931, the balloons included a 287-foot-long dragon that was held by 29 men.
A 22-year-old woman had been piloting the plane over Jamaica, Queens, with her instructor when a 60-foot Tom Cat floated into view “like a sea serpent out of its native element,” The Times reported.
He deflated a green dragon balloon and gave the rubber to the military, Macy’s recounted on its website; the company eventually donated 650 pounds of balloon rubber.
But one of the most shocking accidents occurred when a Cat in the Hat balloon hit a light pole and severely injured a woman in 1997.
When Snoopy was absent from the parade in 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised to bring him back.