Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the first parade to march down Broadway in the Winter of 1924 and was seen by more than 3.5 million spectators. The parade was a time of prosperity for Macy's department store. It occupied an entire block stretching from Broadway and Herald Square to 7th Avenue.
The original parade was about two blocks, but the route was three times longer as it is today. According to the report of 6sqft, the Parade participants include Macy's employees marching to the flagship store, along with professional bands, floats, and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. With the big success of the first parade, Macy's announced that New York City should set aside the morning of November 25 of the following year, for another parade.
The parade continued to be a popular event, and in 1927 the live animals were replaced with balloons. Anthony Frederick Sarg, a Londoner, moved to New York to start his own marionette business. When Macy's noticed his unique talents, he was invited to design a window display for the store to advertise the parade. In addition to the designing of the display, Sarg's animal-shaped balloons were included in the parade.
The first national broadcast of the parade took place in 1932, and the spectators grew to one million the following year.
The parade was suspended during World War II from 1942 to 1944, and started again in 1945, which was attended by one million spectators. The parade continued to the streets of NYC, marching the same route until 2008.
The Macy's Day Parade first took place on Christmas of 1924. Dressed in clowns, cowboys, and other fun costumes, Macy's employees have paraded along with Central Park zoo animals and creative floats to a long six-mile route from Herald Square to Harlem in Manhattan.
NYC Tourist reports that Macy's Day Parade now features over a dozen helium-filled balloons, and includes almost 30 parade floats, 1,500 dancers and cheerleaders, over 750 clowns, and more than 8,000 participants.