By Gus Saltonstall
The Macy’s 2024 Thanksgiving Day Parade will take place on the Upper West Side at the end of this month to celebrate the turkey-filled holiday.
The 98th rendition of the parade on November 28 will feature 22 balloons, 34 floats, 11 marching bands, 28 performers, and more.
Here is everything you might want to know about the beloved parade, including the route, the music lineup, and new balloons.
Route + Where to Watch
The Macy’s 2024 Thanksgiving Day Parade will kick off at 8:30 a.m. from West 77th Street and Central Park West. The procession will then make its way down Central Park West to Columbus Circle, before turning toward Central Park South and Sixth Avenue.
The parade then proceeds downtown along Sixth Avenue until it reaches Macy’s Herald Square store on West 34th Street.
In terms of where you can watch in-person on the Upper West Side, there is no public viewing at the starting line on West 77th Street, but you can watch on the west side of Central Park West from West 75th to 61st streets. There is also no public viewing on Central Park West between West 59th and 60th streets.
You can check out the parade route map for yourself — HERE.
How To Watch
For those who would rather watch the parade from the comfort of their couch, the procession will be aired live on NBC and Peacock from 8:30 a.m. to noon in all time zones.
2024 Performers
- Alex Warren
- Ariana Madix
- Bishop Briggs
- Charli D’Amelio
- Chloe
- Coco Jones
- Cole Escola
- Dan + Shay
- Dasha
- Idina Menzel
- Jennifer Hudson
- Jimmy Fallon & The Roots
- Joey Mclntyre
- Kylie Cantrall
- Kylie Minogue
- Lea Salonga
- Liza Colon-Zayas
- Loud Luxury
- Natti Natasha
- New York Liberty & Ellie the Elephant
- Rachel Platten
- Roman Mejia
- Sebastian Yatra
- The Temptations
- Tiler Peck
- T-Pain
- Walker Hayes
- The War and Treaty
Balloons + Floats
22 Balloons
- Beagle Scout Snoopy
- Bluey
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
- Disney’s Minnie Mouse (New)
- Noorah & The Elf on the Shelf (New)
- Gabby (New)
- Goku (New)
- Kung Fu Panda’s Po
- Marshall from PAW Patrol (New)
- Monkey Luffy
- Macy’s Stars
- Pikachu & Eevee
- The Pillsbury Doughboy
- Pumpkins
- Ronald McDonald
- Sinclair’s Dino
- Smokey Bear
- Snow Crystal
- Spider-Man (New)
- Spongebob Square Pants & Gary
- Stuart the Minion
- Tiptoe
34 Floats
- 1-2-3 Sesame Street
- Big City Cheer
- Big Red Shoe Car
- Big Turkey Spectacular
- Birds of a Feather Stream
- The Brick-Changer
- Camp Snoopy
- Candy Cosmos (New)
- Colossal Wave of Wonder
- Deck the Halls
- Dora’s Fantastical Rainforest (New)
- Fantasy Chocolate Factory
- Geoffrey’s Dazzling Dance Party
- Gift of Freedom
- Harvest in the Valley
- Heartwarming Holiday Countdown
- Macy’s Santaland Express
- Macy’s Winter Wonderland in Central park
- Magic Meets the Seas (New)
- Palace of Sweets
- Pasta Knight (New)
- Rocking Giraffe
- Rocking Horse
- Rocking Flamingo
- Rocking Lobster
- Rocking Moose
- Santa’s Sleigh
- SpongeBob SquarePants Garriage (New)
- Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Tom Turkey
- Universal’s Merry Moment
- Wednesday Feast (New)
- The Wondership
- Wondrous World of Wildlife (New)
There will also be clowns, marching bands and balloonicles. You can check out the complete lineup for the parade — HERE.
West Side Rag will publish an article close to November 28 that lists the Upper West Side street closures on the day.
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Please advise if 79th street crosstown bus will be running.
Don’t know why these events, (Thanksgiving Parade, Fourth of July Fireworks, Lighting of the Christmas Tree) have to include so many “entertainment celebrities singing or rather yelling. Can’t we just see the wonderful events with some singing or rather yelling ? It would be so wonderful to just see the parade, fireworks and lighting without having to bear the singing or rather yelling and commercials. The event would have so much more meaning rather than a commercial “buy now” event.
It would be wonderful to see Macy’s actually valuing their customers and fans of the parade. It would be wonderful seeing UWS community leaders valuing the amount of money people spend and the patronization of businesses on the UWS the day before Thanksgiving and on the day of the parade. But the parade is so popular they do not care if people with disabilities or minorities are made to feel unwelcome on the UWS.
Parade every year is too much. It’s annoying.
Thanksgiving should be every five years.
This also solves the problem of having to eat for hours with moronic relatives every year.
Boo!
Wow – its a disgrace there is absolutely no discussion on how MY street parking is being disrupted. It’s events like this that are DESTROYING the upper west side.
Please check your privileges at the door. This parade has been going on longer than you and your piece of tin car have been plaguing this earth. The UWS is far from being destroyed, not sure where this is coming from.
Also weren’t a bunch of outdoor dining sheds just removed? Literally no pleasing you.
OMG, this holiday celebrates gratitude and harmony–and you’re worried about parking your car?!
I thought the comment from Parking Mad was obvious sarcasm, considering the fact that UWSers are always inconvenienced by everything. ; )
It was obviously a joke. The days when UWSers (and NYers in general) had a sense of humor are long gone.
Macy’s given its history of racial profiling and treatment of customers that is worse than the MTA does not deserve to have a parade with their name on it. If this was the Starbucks Thanksgiving Day Parade, people who were profiled and unconstitutionally stopped, would all have gotten much better treatment and a corporation that actually empathized with their fans (and customers) which is something Macy’s clearly does not want to understand. Same thing if this was the MTA Thanksgiving Day Parade, if you email Janno Lieber about a service issue, they will do more to empathize about your problems than Macy’s. Macy’s is a company that does not care whether they lose your business or not. They do not care whether you tune in to their event or not.
What disappoints me is how people with disabilities were profiled and messed with at last year’s balloon inflation and the community leadership on the UWS were not helpful. Not only that, but Macy’s corporate, including their CEO, refused to even empathize and thank the people who were profiled for coming to their event last year and in the past.
Macy’s has a long history of accusations of racial profiling including paying out a $650,000 settlement in 2014 to settle racial profiling claims. There was also a lawsuit alleging that Macy’s allegedly would refuse to sell certain products to Asians in 2017. A socially conscious neighborhood like the UWS should not stand with a corporation who does not care about all of its customers and does not care or empathize with the fans of their event.
Elected officials like Gale Brewer could have worked with the mayor’s office and Macy’s to make the profiling incidents that happened at last year’s balloon inflation into a positive. There could have been policy changes to handle security at the balloon inflation better, Macy’s could have taken the time to show that they appreciate their fans, especially fans who did not do anything illegal and were subjected to possibly unconstitutional stops. Macy’s could have given a gift which could have been donated to WSR for their Thanksgiving contest and this would have turned a negative into a positive. But no one wants to do that, it shows Macy’s, the UWS leadership and the city do not appreciate fans of the parade.
It’s an embarrassment that there is only limited public viewing and that ordinary folk who just live and pay taxes here year round can’t watch the parade from the Central Park side of the street like we could pre-Bloomberg. It’s yet one more NYC tradition that most NY families can’t do anymore!
It is okay. This is an NYC tradition where it is implicit that certain kinds of people are not welcome to take part in it. All while UWS leaders stand idly by.
Oh, and how are they going to manage the balloon inflation crowds this year so that people are not on line waiting for hours blocking sidewalks on Columbus Avenue and told they would get in if they are in line by 6 only to be told that they could not get in the balloon inflation and walk away disappointed. Also what about the NYPD kettling people at the event last year?
Are there more bleacher seats on CPW than in the past?
Perhaps I am wrong, but it looks like there are areas on the park side that used to be fully accessible – but are now bleacher seats?
I have lived in the w 70s since the 1970s. I remember when you could easily on Thanksgiving Eve walk up to where the turkey day balloons were being blown up and take your time watching that happen. No more. Now there are long lines starting early in evening with adults and children stretching for many blocks on Columbus Ave.. I also recall there was snow falling on some Thanksgiving days. That has not happened for many years., maybe a sign of global warming.