Macy’s is expanding its Upper West Side staging area for the 100th Thanksgiving Day Parade. That means balloons on West 72nd Street and floats on Central Park West as far north as 88th Street.
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Kathleen Wright, director of production operations for Macy’s Studios, presented the changes to Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee on Tuesday. The staging area has typically run from about 77th to 86th Street, with balloons inflated on 77th and 81st Streets beside the American Museum of Natural History and floats assembled on Central Park West. This year Macy’s will “expand our footprint slightly to celebrate this milestone parade.”After the public inflation event ends on Wednesday, November 25, more balloons will be inflated on 72nd Street overnight into Thursday morning before joining the parade. Floats will also be assembled from the north side of 86th Street to the south side of 88th Street on Wednesday. Wright said 86th Street and the transverse will stay open all day Wednesday. They’ll close briefly Thanksgiving morning, when those floats move south into the usual staging area.
“Because it’s 100 years, we have a lot more balloons and a lot more floats,” said Dawn Tolson, executive director of the city’s Citywide Event Coordination and Management office and Street Activity Permit Office. She said 72nd Street has always been closed on inflation day, but “you will be seeing things there that you wouldn’t see before.”
The change will cost some residents their usual viewing spots. Tolson said people who watch from the west sidewalk of Central Park West near 72nd Street will lose that space for security reasons. The city is working with Macy’s to give them room on the opposite side of the street, where the bleachers are.
Wright said street closures will remain largely the same as in past years. The entire starting-line area, including the new blocks, should reopen by about noon on Thanksgiving.
There will also be changes at the inflation entrance at 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue. Tolson said concrete blocks will replace the police cars and sanitation trucks usually used there, and more barricades will keep crowds out of the bike lane and the street. The queue opens at noon, viewing begins at 1 p.m., and the line closes at 6 p.m.
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The parade steps off Thursday, November 26 at 8:30 a.m., and it’ll feature a record-breaking 100 inflatables and more than 11,000 volunteers and participants, according to NBC, which will broadcast it with a simulcast on Peacock and live coverage on Telemundo. Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker of TODAY are hosting. Performers include Teddy Swims, Natasha Bedingfield, Queen Latifah, Leslie Odom Jr., Jimmy Fallon & The Roots and Wyclef Jean, with Megan Hilty leading a tribute to Dolly Parton. New balloons include Bluey, Hello Kitty and Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey. A special Macy’s All Stars float will bring back characters from past parades, including Bullwinkle, Snoopy’s friend Woodstock, Scooby-Doo and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.Have a news tip? Send it to us here!
