www.broadwayworld.com: Today, Macy's, Inc. and the City of New York announced the return of the world-famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, set to march down the streets of New York City for its 95th annual holiday celebration. Following last year's made for television celebration, the official kick-off to the holiday season will take to the streets of Manhattan on Thursday, November 25th beginning at 9:00 a.m.
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It continues to make me feel great every time I see a headline for an article that references the return of the entertainment industry in any way. For me, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is one of those events that reminds me of my childhood. As a kid, we always watched the parade on TV. One year, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go watch in person. This along with the New Year's Day Rose Parade, which I was fortunate to attend in person many times as a kid, is an event that I love. I don't quite know what it is about parades that I love so much, but I just do. It is amazing that Macy's has bounced right back from such a tough year and is able to give as a little bit more normal. I absolutely will be sitting down to watch this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
My initial reaction to this headline was "Is this really necessary?" But I'll admit, they do seem to be very organized about putting on the parade. I'm sure this is a feat to take on, especially for anyone managing the event in real time. I had a friend growing up who would go up to NYC every year to catch this parade and she has the fondest memories, so I do get the desire to bring it back. But she did mention the chaos and the crowding on any normal year. It's not clear if pre-registration to the parade is required though, and I also wonder how entire portions of a super busy city can really be blocked off. When I've seen glimpses on the TV of the Macy's Parade in the past few years, I also think about the waste that giant balloons can produce, especially if they are scrapped immediately after. Maybe I don't have enough of a connection to the original aesthetic, but it'd be interesting to see some revamping to material use.
I remember last year reading all of the articles about the changes being made to the thanksgiving parade, and then watching it. It was kind of sad it see it be so short and with nobody there but they did what was safest and I appreciate that. It seems like they are taking all of the necessary precautions to keep their staff, volunteers, and performers safe. They are requiring vaccines and masks (which a few mask exceptions for the performers). But they haven’t said anything about the audience. I could be wrong but I think this is just something that people are allowed to show up to and watch. I would like to see them require vaccines and masks for the spectators as well as those working on the parade. The logistics of that might be hard if people don’t need tickets to watch. It just seems risky to hold an event that allows large groups of people to gather without rules for them. It does look like they will have socially distant seats which is good.
Seeing these types of events return to somewhat-normalcy is always a reminder of how different the pandemic has made our modern-day circumstances. It is undoubtedly comforting and relieving to see the revival of mass public events like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, but it’s arguably more important to consider the necessity of doing this in light of recent COVID developments. The delta variant and the enormous surge in cases does not really go hand-in-hand with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, even with all the health and safety regulations detailed in the article. It is incredibly frustrating to see things get better and the revitalization of what was before COVID, only for it to be snatched away by impatience, ignorance, and misinformation. The Macy’s Parade may be an iconic event that many are excited to see return this year but I do find such a large public gathering in the wake of recent COVID developments to be mildly unnecessary and concerning.
It makes me so happy to see more and more of the things we love start to come back. I have always loved the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Like many families, mine likes to gather in the living room to watch it every Thanksgiving morning. In fact, my birthday falls within Thanksgiving week every year, so as a little girl, I always imagined that the parade was also partially for my birthday. It’s great that Macy’s has come up with various rules and regulations to keep everyone safe from the virus in place, but I can’t help but be a little nervous about an outbreak. After the year we’ve had it’s hard not to be. The vaccine is fantastic and it’s so great that now we’re able to go out and see the people and things we love, but with variants like Delta rising up, I’m scared the parade might be cancelled. Who knows what things will look like in November? All I can say is that I’m so glad the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be back to “normal” or as normal as we can hope for it to be. It brings a sense of comfort.
On one hand, it makes me happy to see the performing arts returning. But on the other, I do worry that we will start to see a massive uptick in cases this holiday season from things like this.
I do feel that as an industry we have overall failed to rise up to the occasion with COVID. We have proven that we are capable of getting by without the in person aspect of production, yet we continue to give in to pressures to be open to the public. Does it cost money to attend? I imagine anybody can just walk up and attend but I can't find anything that explicitly states it so it makes no sense that it should be open to the public this year save for Macy's just trying to keep relevant with it.
I guess part of the problem is that regulations all around aren't nearly as tight as they were a year ago so you really can't do much to prevent people from watching, so from a marketing standpoint you may as well try and spin it in a positive light in order to draw attention back to the parade. Still, I hope that the necessary precautions are taken to try and not turn the parade into a superspreader event.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand it’s nice seeing some things returning and seeing the performing arts scenes start to heal. The Macy’s parade has always been pretty fun to watch, and all of the floats and performances are so cool. But on the other hand, we’re not through this pandemic yet people are still dying from covid and the delta variant, so is to really necessary? I know they talk about CDC guidelines and protocols, but knowing the american public, it’ll be hard to keep a crowd that size following those kinds of rules. Mostly just concerning that this could become yet another super spreader event. I suppose we can only hope that in two months the pandemic calms down even more so that the risks are lower. Maybe I’m just skeptical because I’ve never liked thanksgiving so I feel less inclined to want it to come back.
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