Every year, cities across the United States celebrate with parades during the holiday season. These parades include giant floats, amazing bands, massive balloons, outstanding performers, and so much more. The most famous parade this time of year is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, conducted by the Macy’s Department store. The parade began in 1924, but was paused for two years during World War II, making this year the 99th year of celebration for the parade, as reported by the official Macy’s website.
According to the official Macy’s website, there were 34 balloons in the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade this year. Along with the balloons, there were 28 floats, 29 performers, eleven marching bands, four balloonicles (a vehicle made of balloons), 33 clown crews, nine performance groups, and fourteen specialty units. The parade featured top performers like Cynthia Erivo, Laney Wilson, and stars from the Netflix movie Kpop Demon Hunters. These spectacular performers made the parade last a rough estimate of three and a half hours.
My personal favorite part of the parade this year was the Derpy Tiger balloon from Kpop Demon Hunters, and the Kpop Demon Hunters float where the voice actresses of Rumi, Zoey, and Mira performed the hit song “Golden.” Other amusing performers included the Upside Down Invasion Stranger Things float and the littlest float, which was the Pepperridge Farms’ Goldfish crackers float. It stood just under eight inches tall and had approximately 14 goldfish crackers on it. And according to the Macy’s official website, this float was the tiniest float in the parade’s history.
Though the parade was a whopping three and a half hours long, it still brought in viewers from all over. As reported by The Wrap.com’s, Loree Seitz, the Macy’s Day Parade viewership was up 8% from last year. Although last year’s parade had the biggest audience in history, this year was even bigger with 34.3 million viewers. The parade had 34.3 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, along with the live audience. According to Seitz, “On NBC alone, the original 8:30 a.m. eastern time airing scored 25.4 million viewers, shattering last year’s record of 23.6 million.”
Though there were many great performances and floats, there was still controversy striking the parade this year. With millions of people watching, including children, Shaggy’s singing of “It Wasn’t Me” stirred up quite a storm. According to the New York Post’s Connor Surmonte, Shaggy raised eyebrows this holiday season by including his 2000 song “It Wasn’t Me” alongside singer RayVon on the Jennie-O Big Turkey Spectacular float. Though Shaggy decided not to include some of his explicit lyrics, many people still did not believe it was appropriate for young viewers.
Overall, the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is another year in the books. With record-breaking views and outstanding performances, the parade had a fantastic turnout. Though there was controversy, there was more good than bad. Next year will be the 100th year celebration of the parade, so stay tuned and see if next year can top the past years.
